Entombed used to be a big favourite of mine back in the day. In fact, their “Clandestine” is one of my all time favourite death metal albums. However, the Swede’s foray into Death ‘n Roll wasn’t all that much to my liking and I lost touch with the band after “To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth.” So, a good few years after that release, when Srikanth told me they had a new album out I was more than a little curious to see what Entombed were up to in 2007.

The album starts with the title song “Serpent Saints.” A quite ominous sounding intro gives way to a blasting Motorhead type riff and the song pummels you. Things are off to a good start. Entombed somehow managed to retain their death metal sound and at the same time incorporate a raw Venom/ Motorhead feel to their albums. That is still the case here on “Serpent Saints.” “Masters Of Death” is the most old school Entombed sounding song on this album. The song has a superb old school thrash death vibe and Petrov’s vocals are in top form. In fact L.G. Petrov’s vocals are terrific on this album.

Overall though, the problem I have with Serpent Saints is the same problem I’ve had with every Entombed release after “To Ride….” There are always a couple of songs that sound absolutely terrific while the rest of the album becomes so much background music. It’s heavy. There’s no doubt about it. The production as always is refreshingly old school. Still, the songs are not that great. The title song manages to rise above the mediocrity as does “Warfare, Plague, Famine, Death” with its chugging riffs, proper death metal feel and a clever use of female vocals. But songs like “The Dead, The Dying and the Dying to be Dead” with its Soulfly like riffing just seems completely out of place. In fact the last four songs on the album either seem like tired clichés of extreme metal or just seem completely out of place on an Entombed record.

If you’ve stuck with the band through the intervening years between “To Ride…” and the new album, then chances are that you’ll still like “Serpent Saints.” For me though, this album is a definite disappointment. It is overall a pretty mediocre album from a band that somehow never managed to live up to the promise shown on the first few albums.

Label – Candlelight

Year Of Release – 2007