Entombed

The five-track, 24-minute When in Sodom EP marked the return of Entombed after a few years off (i.e., Inferno, 2003) and the departure of guitarist Uffe Cederlund. As with the departure of drummer/songwriter Nicke Andersson in 1997, the departure of Cederlund didn't bode well for the group: not only did he succeed Andersson as Entombed's primary songwriter, but he was one of the founding members of the band, his tenure dating back to the days of Nihilist. Rather than replace Cederlund, the remaining members of Entombed, particularly the band's other guitarist, Alex Hellid, decided that the band could function well enough as a four-piece, with one guitarist rather than two. Judging by When in Sodom, which is easily on a par with previous Entombed releases dating back to Uprising (1999), the band can indeed function mighty fine as a quartet. If anything, the departure of Cederlund emboldened Hellid to indulge himself, as his riffs clearly drive these songs. Too, the absence of Cederlund may have emboldened vocalist L.G. Petrov to step further into the spotlight much like Hellid; whereas his vocals had been mixed so low on Inferno (2003) to be fairly incomprehensible, they're in the foreground here, to such an extent that almost every word can be deciphered with the aid of a lyric sheet. The differences between When in Sodom and Inferno go further beyond the departure of Cederlund and the emergence of Hellid and Petrov into the spotlight, though. For one, the production is much better than that of Inferno, which sounded raw but also muddy and poorly mixed. Secondly, the songs here are a bit longer, three of them surpassing the five-minute mark. All of this considered, When in Sodom is a promising EP release for Entombed, not unlike Hollowman (1993), which was likewise stacked with first-rate all-new original songs and signaled a change of direction for the band. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide