Raging Death

Swedish death metal has always been a genre I have been interested in, and after listening to this album, it is clear that Entrails has greatly captured the spirit of this style. However, I can not help but feel that Entrails is limiting itself by its adherence to its primary influence, Entombed. Being similar to older bands is not necessarily a bad thing. By taking these inspirations, Entrails and other bands like Necrot and Ripped to Shreds are keeping the old school death metal sound intact in today's world. However, the writing is not much different from what death metal fans have already heard before, and part of me wishes that Entrails would differentiate itself in the way that Necrot and Ripped to Shreds have.

Given the influence of old school Swedish death metal in this album, the writing is very punky with melodic sections interspersed in the riffs. You can very clearly hear the punk influence in songs like “Bloodhammer” and “Cadaverous Stench”. Songs like “Carved to the Bone” and “Headless Dawn” showcase the melodic aspect with pleasant harmonies. The writing also keeps things old school by keeping blast beats to a minimum. For many current death metal bands, blast beats can make up entire songs, but back in the day, blast beats were a lot more infrequent. “Raging Death” is able to maintain this style, using only one short blast beat in the entire album. Regarding album structure, there are no real complaints. There is a nice creepy intro on “In Pieces” to start the album, each song has a different feel, being either groovy, fast, punky, or melodic, and “Headless Dawn” gives a good break from the action with a nice clean section.

The only issue some people might see with this album’s writing is that it is very derivative of the source material. The most blatant example of this tendency is in “The Cemetery Horrors”, which has an eerie keyboard section that heavily resembles “Left Hand Path” by Entombed. The section fits very well, but it does demonstrate the concern that “Raging Death” sticks too close to its inspiration.

Regarding sound, the album is still based on old Swedish death metal, though there is slightly more punk influence added than that of older bands. The guitars are deep and bassy, with that signature buzzsaw added. There is not as much buzzsaw as Entombed, but there is certainly enough to fit the style. The vocals are also similar to that of Entombed but with a bit less voice showing through, which is probably derived from newer death metal having less intelligible vocals. The only big issue I have with the sound is the bass. You can hear hints of it, but it really never gets a chance to shine and is fairly muddy in the mix.

Some similar albums include Entombed’s “Left Hand Path”, Dismember’s “Like an Ever Flowing Stream”, and Unleashed’s “Where No Life Dwells”. However, given the additional punk influence on “Raging Death”, I would also add Deathrite’s “Revelation of Chaos”, which, while not really considered Swedish death metal, shares the heavy punk influence.

Overall, “Raging Death” does a good job of bringing the old school Swedish death metal sound to a modern audience but does not introduce many new ideas. The album does not get boring to listen to, and it has a lot of different feels throughout the album. The sound is very well done with the muddiness of the bass being the only real issue. While I do wish that the album contained more experimentation with new ideas and additions, I do acknowledge that Entrails is more focused on capturing the Swedish death metal sound, and “Raging Death” does a great job with that goal in mind.