Left Hand Path (album)

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Left Hand Path
Lefthandpath AlbumCover.jpg
Studio album by
Entombed
Released4 June 1990 (1990-06-04)[1]
RecordedDecember 1989
StudioSunlight Studio (Stockholm, Sweden)
GenreDeath metal
Length39:16
LabelCombat, Earache
ProducerTomas Skogsberg, Entombed
Entombed chronology
Left Hand Path
(1990) 		Clandestine
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic4.5/5 stars[2]

Left Hand Path is the debut studio album by Swedish death metal band Entombed, released on 4 June 1990 by Earache Records.[1]

Background[]

The title of the album refers to the Left-Hand Path belief system. Guitarist Alex Hellid found the term in Anton LaVey's book The Satanic Bible.[3]

The title track contains an interpolation of the theme from the 1979 horror film Phantasm at 3:54.[4]

Influence[]

Guitar tone[]

Left Hand Path is noted for defining the style of Swedish death metal by being the first studio album to feature the "buzzsaw" guitar tone that would later become a staple for the regional scene thereafter. The guitar tone was achieved using a heavily de-tuned setting (drop B) combined with a maxed-out Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal pedal and the DS-1 Distortion pedal into a Peavey amp. The originator of this guitar tone was Nihilist guitarist Leif "Leffe" Cuzner.

Accolades[]

Left Hand Path was ranked No. 82 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.[5]

In August 2005, Decibel inducted Left Hand Path into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame, naming it the first "proper" Swedish death metal album, with the "buzzsaw" guitar tone being crowned as the legendary "Entombed sound".[6]

Cover versions[]

Two songs from the album were covered by Belgian death metal band Aborted, "Drowned" for the re-release of The Archaic Abattoir and "Left Hand Path" for the EP Coronary Reconstruction.

In popular media[]

"Drowned" was featured in the 2009 video game Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned on the radio station Liberty City Hardcore.

Track listing[]

All lyrics are written by Nicke Andersson, Alex Hellid; all music is composed by Andersson, Uffe Cederlund, Leif Cuzner.

No.TitleLength
1."Left Hand Path"6:41
2."Drowned"4:04
3."Revel in Flesh"3:45
4."When Life Has Ceased"4:13
5."Supposed to Rot"2:06
6."But Life Goes On"3:02
7."Bitter Loss"4:25
8."Morbid Devourment"5:27
9."Abnormally Deceased"3:01
10."The Truth Beyond"3:28
CD bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."Carnal Leftovers"3:00
12."Premature Autopsy"4:26

Personnel[]

Entombed

Technical personnel

  • Tomas Skogsberg – production, engineering
  • Dan Seagrave – cover art
  • Micke Lundstrom – photography
  • David Windmill – design

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Entombed 'Left Hand Path'". earache.com. Earache. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  2. ^ Birchmeier, Jason. Entombed: Left Hand Path at AllMusic. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  3. ^ J. Bennett, "Left Hand Legacy", Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces, Albert Mudrian, ed., Da Capo Press, p. 113.
  4. ^ Bennett, p. 118.
  5. ^ Rolling Stone; Beaujour, Tom; Shteamer, Hank; Kelly, Kim; Smith, Steve; Spanos, Brittany; Exposito, Suzy; Bienstock, Richard; Grow, Kory; Epstein, Dan; Considine, J.D.; Greene, Andy; Sheffield, Rob; Bergrand, Adrien; Christe, Ian (21 June 2017). "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  6. ^ Chase, Jesse. "Entombed – "Left Hand Path"". Decibel. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
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