DB HOF NO. 7

The making of Entombed’s “Left Hand Path”

released: 1990

label: Earache

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Death metal was still in its infancy when Left Hand Path came roaring out of Stockholm like Satan’s official theme music—a deafening cavalcade of impossibly thick guitars, guttural vocal incantations, and gore-drenched lyrics that struck a considerable contrast—well, the guitars, anyway—to the burgeoning Floridian death-swarm (Obituary, Death, Morbid Angel) of the day. Entombed began as Nihilist, which was in itself the product of two other Swedish bands: Singer L.G. Petrov and guitarist Ulf “Uffe” Cederlund were refugees from Morbid (Petrov played drums), a group that also sacrificed its infamous vocalist Per Ohlin, a.k.a. Dead, to Norway’s burgeoning black metal insurgency while future Entombed members Nicke Andersson (drums), Alex Hellid (guitar) and Leif “Leffe” Cuzner (guitar/bass) played in hardcore outfit Brainwarp. (Before Cederlund’s official involvement, Nihilist enlisted bassist Johnny Hedlund, who would go on to form Unleashed.) Nihilist recorded three demos—recently released on CD via Entombed’s Threeman Recordings—before Cuzner moved to Canada (and was replaced by Cederlund). Shortly thereafter, the group kicked Hedlund to the curb and changed their name to Entombed. By the time the new band’s demo appeared in late 1989, the teenaged Swedes already had an offer on the table from Earache Records. Upon its release in early 1990, Left Hand Path became Sweden’s first “proper” death metal album, the primary influence for countless death rock commandos, and the world’s official introduction to the savage guitar tone that would become the legendary “Entombed sound.”

—J. Bennett

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