From tha vaults: Entombed - Wolverine Blues (1993)

Regarded as a classic by some, and loathed by others, it is hard to think of a metal record as divisive as 'Wolverine Blues.' For death metal purists, the Swede's movement away from landmark records 'Left Hand Path' and 'Clandestine' was treasonous. Those records had already spawned a sub-genre filled with copyists, however, and perhaps Entombed felt it was better to transcend death metal than repeat it. The result is a record which sounds somewhat like a jam session involving the MC5 and Chuck Schuldiner. Injcting punk and rock 'n' roll into into a foundation of extreme metal, 'Wolverine Blues' is crushingly heavy, very aggressive, but remains lots of FUN. 'Eyemaster' opens with drag-race simplicity, blasting rumbling riffs which were as indebted to doom as they were death. 'Heaven's Die' featuring some truly evil riffs and smashes Slayer into the Misfits, whilst 'Demon' is pure dirty, bass assault. This is a record dripping in blusesy tones and switching from sinister to savage - not overcomplicated for the sake of it (as much death metal can be), '..Blues' oozes groove. 'Contempt', for example, sprawls and swells around a series of riffs like a great blues band jamming about something dark and malevolent. Wolverine Blues? There has rarely been a more fitting moniker. Beg, steel or borrow.