Band:	Entombed
Album:	Serpent Saints - The Ten Amendments
Style:	Death 'N' Roll
Release date:	June 22, 2007
Guest review by:	Stuart

01. Serpent Saints
02. Masters Of Death
03. Amok
04. Thy Kingdom Koma
05. When In Sodom
06. In The Blood
07. Ministry
08. The Dead, The Dying and The Dying To Be Dead
09. Warfare, Plague, Famine, Death
10. Love Song For Lucifer

Entombed is a band who have gone through a lot of line-up changes between their previous album, Inferno and this release. First bassist Jorgen Sandstrom quit the band to concentrate on The Project Hate, followed by the departure of founding member and second guitarist Uffe Cederlund and finally drummer Peter Stjärnvind decided call it a day just as Entombed were heading into the studio.

With all these changes I didn't know quite what to expect from this album. I was however, pleasantly surprised. Entombed have produced, yet again, another piece of solid death 'n' roll with their classic trademark guitar sound as heavy and raw as anything from their heyday in the early 90's. After a few listens you can't help but think of the Wolverine Blues album and that they are all the better for it. Although I really enjoyed their last couple of releases, this is definitely a "back to roots" album and I'm sure it will please all those who accused them of going down hill with every release since 'To Ride...'.

They've recruited their producer, Nico Elgstrand on full time bass duties and Olle Dahlstedt on drums. They're down to one guitarist but this doesn't appear to have adversely affected them at all. They still sound like a very tight unit and very focused on the sound and atmosphere they're creating. Despite being around for almost 20 years they still sound incredibly new and fresh and haven't developed into a parody of themselves like the majority of bands with eight or nine albums behind them. In fact L-G's vocals are sounding the best they've sounded in years.

Lyrically the album is very tongue in cheek and humorous as always, although even more so and I think this is due to main lyricist Uffe leaving the band. I remember seeing them on the Masters Of Death Tour last year with Grave, Dismember and a few others and I noticed a song on this album entitled 'Masters Of Death'. Upon reading the lyrics to this song I discovered that virtually the entire song is made up of Death/Thrash Metal band names and song titles. I'm presuming this is some sort of Homage to bands they like or something. As with all good bands the words tend to get stuck in your head and you can't help but smile at the chorus to 'In The Blood' which sounds a like a very Metallised R&B pop tune.

Almost every song has a memorable moment in it and there are no fillers, except maybe the slightly weird, but soothing, final track, 'Love Song For Lucifer'. They throw in a few acoustic parts here and there and some effects between some songs and it all flows completely smoothly and not all broken up as with most Death Metal bands when trying something similar. It's very difficult to find a single fault with this album, it's simply Entombed doing what they do best, blasting out the heaviest, grooviest, most attitude filled music ever to come out of Gothenburg. With song titles like 'The Dead, The Dying And The Dying To Be Dead' you can't go wrong.

Overall I give this album a 7.5 out of 10. It's exactly what I'd hoped for but it doesn't exactly push the boundaries or explore any new musical territory, but then again that's not what you want from Entombed.