In the plethora of Death Metal bands to have emerged, Stockholm's ENTOMBED have proven themselves as ranking among the elite. Never less than skull crushingly heavy, the band has carved its own niche in the market with deft musicianship and a unique perspective generating a 'Death-Doom' The band's 1993 album 'Wolverine Blues' is generally acknowledged to be a masterpiece of the genre.

A precursor to ENTOMBED was NIHILIST, forged by teenagers under the BRAINWARP banner during 1987. Initiated by drummer Nicke Andersson the first unit involved school friends singer Daniel "Dudde" Strachal, guitarist Alex Hellid and Leif Cuzner on bass. Strachal soon opted out, later resurfacing behind the LOBOTOMY drum kit, and the band briefly rehearsed with Mattias "Buffla" Boström on the microphone. However, upon entering the Stockholm's Studio Z in March 1988 to cut their first set of demos it would be Lars-Göran Petrov, drummer of MORBID (the band that featured a pre-MAYHEM Per 'Dead' Ohlin), employed as session singer. Another MORBID man, Ulf 'Uffe' Cederlund, handled secondary guitar duties for what would be the Leif Martinsson engineered demo 'Premature Autopsy'.

For subsequent live shows the band was joined by Petrov and new bass guitarist Johnny Hedlund as Cuzner switched to guitar. Over two days in December 1988 this formation utilised Sunlight Studios in Stockholm, and a then unknown producer Tomas Skogsberg, in December to craft a further three song demo, 'Only Shreds Remain'. Once leaked onto the tape trading market the NIHILIST name rapidly garnered enthusiastic support. Until this juncture the only cutting edge Death Metal circulating was emanating from the UK and USA. With 'Only Shreds Remain', NIHILIST had initiated what was to be a tidal flow from Scandinavia.

Leif Cuzner was reluctantly forced out of operations when his family relocated to Canada. In his stead came their former session ally Ulf 'Uffe' Cederlund, at the time attempting to kick start his own INFURATION project. Another round of Swedish club dates ensued before a return to recording was prompted at the invitation of 'Metalion' (a.k.a. Jon Kristiansen), owner of the fabled 'Slayer' fanzine. The journalist was attempting to assemble a split release set to feature PARADISE LOST, CARCASS and BOLT THROWER to launch his Head Not Found label, requesting NIHILIST also contribute material. although the band laid down the new track 'Morbid Devourment' for this purpose the proposed release never transpired. The song was then mooted for inclusion on a compilation album 'Brutal Jaevla Död', but this too failed to eventuate.

Persevering, NIHILIST set about constructing the 'Drowned' demo in August 1989, including a cover rendition of REPULSION's 'Radiation Sickness'. The debut single, 1989's 'Severe Burns' on Bloody Rude Defect Records, was originally the demo "Drowned', whilst a second single, 'Radiation Sickness' in 1991, turned out to be a semi-official bootleg. Just after these sessions, internal disagreements froze out Johnny Hedlund. The bass player soon set up anew with the powerful UNLEASHED, whilst the remainder forged ENTOMBED. Around this period Nicke Andersson was also dividing his duties singing with TREBLINKA, the pre-TIAMAT extreme Death Metal combo out of Täby.

The newly named outfit, with David Blomquist on bass, used Sunlight Studios once again on September 23rd 1989 to carve out tracks for the 'But Life Goes On' demo. A contract was secured with leading British label Earache Records and ENTOMBED retained Tomas Skogsberg's services to record their first album that December, Uffe Cederlund and Nicke Andersson both handling bass duties for the occasion, which witnessed re-works of many earlier NIHILIST songs. Following the release of the 'Left Hand Path' debut album in June 1990, ENTOMBED recruited a permanent bass player in former CONSPIRACY, CARBONIZED and MONASTERY man Lars Rosenberg.

1991 was a quite eventful year for the outfit as vocalist Lars-Göran Petrov was fired following personal clashes within the band. Orvar Säfström of NIRVANA 2002 briefly took up the role, long enough to feature on the April 1991 EP 'Crawl', but was in turn was replaced by ex-CARNAGE vocalist Johnny Dordevic. The second album, 'Clandestine', released in November 1991, also credited Dordevic with lead vocals, although it was later learned that in fact Nicke Andersson had sang in the studio. Another EP, 'Stranger Aeons' issued in August 1992, also credited Johnny Dordevic when in fact Nicke Andersson had vocalised. Dordevic exited in September.

In the Autumn, the band toured America on the 'Gods Of Grind' billing alongside fellow Swedes UNLEASHED and headliners MORBID ANGEL with the vocal position filled by the reinstated Lars-Göran Petrov. In his sabbatical from ENTOMBED, the vocalist had recorded with both COMECON and MORBID.

The landmark 'Wolverine Blues' opus arrived in October 1993, signalling a radical shift away from the tried and trusted Death Metal and into wholly unexplored areas of groove loaded extreme music which would become known as "Death n' Roll". Longstanding fans were sharply divided in their opinion but with 'Wolverine Blues' the group had successfully avoided the artistically bankruptcy choking many other bands of their ilk. The record came issued in two sleeve variations, one clad in artwork depicting Marvel comics 'X Men' Wolverine cartoon character. This design, unsanctioned by the band, resulted in acrimony with Earache Records and their new US corporate partners Columbia Records. As a marketing ploy, the gamble certainly worked, bringing many new fans into the world of ENTOMBED.

In 1994 ENTOMBED toured Europe heavily as guests to NAPALM DEATH. General opinion was that ENTOMBED consistently stole the show from a flagging headliner. Subsequent North American dates were only marred by the band having to play as a trio in Canada minus Lars-Göran Petrov. The singer had lost his passports when ENTOMBED's tour van was stolen in Cleveland. ENTOMBED persevered with a show in Toronto, Ontario utilizing guitarist Ulf Cederlund as lead vocalist. Further chaos was to impinge itself though when, for the second show in Montreal, Cederlund lost his voice completely, prompting the band to invite audience members to participate to plug the gap.

The only ENTOMBED product to see release during 1994 was the 'Out Of Hand' 7" single, which saw the band covering tracks by such diverse influences as KISS and REPULSION.

Mid-way through 1995 bassist Rosenberg opted to join THERION, having filled in on a temporary basis for live work. ENTOMBED would add ex-GRAVE bassist Jörgen Sandström in his place and would part company with Earache Records in 1996 to sign with major label East West. However, despite finalizing recording of a projected album the band found themselves embroiled in record company politics and the album was shelved. Luckily, a deal was hastily negotiated between East West and leading independent Music For Nations in order for 'DCLXVI - To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth' to be released in 1997. Digipack versions of the album came with a free 'Family Favourites' EP which saw ENTOMBED ripping through BLACK SABBATH's 'Under The Sun', VENOM's 'Bursting Out', KING CRIMSON's '21st Century Schizoid Man' and MC5's 'Kick Out The Jams'. 'To Ride, Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth' impacted impressively on the Swedish album charts at number 7.

Aside from ENTOMBED, Nicke Andersson, in the guise of Nicke Royale, also began to dabble with a side Punk project known as THE HELLACOPTERS with Dick Hakansson (a.k.a. Dregan) from BACKYARD BABIES. Andersson issued his first full length album for THE HELLACOPTERS in late 1996 to laudatory reviews. The band received such acclaim, even being requested to support KISS on their Scandinavian dates that Andersson felt obliged to quit his parent act to concentrate fully on THE HELLACOPTERS.

In 1996 Cederlund and Andersson released the 'Seven Deadly Sins' album together with KONKHRA's vocalist Anders Lundemark under the band name of DAEMON. April of 1997 found the band back on European soil, heading up the 'Full Of Hate' Easter festivals alongside OBITUARY, DEATH, SAMAEL, NEUROSIS, CROWBAR, KILLING CULTURE and STRAPPING YOUNG LAD. ENTOMBED themselves would tour the UK as headliners in September and October of 1997, supported by NEUROSIS and BREECH. Incidentally, Uffe Cederlund also dabbled with a Punk crew titled HAYSTACK together with BACKYARD BABIES bassist Johan Blomqvist, the band releasing a 1998 album 'Slave Me'.

ENTOMBED, now with MERCILESS, FACE DOWN, REGURGITATE and LOUD PIPES drummer Peter 'Flinta' Stjärnwind, put in an American tour to kick off 1998. A new ENTOMBED album, 'Same Difference', was greeted in November 1998 by indifferent reviews and only scraped onto the Swedish charts at number 52. The somewhat mellow 'Same Difference' had been hewn out at Polar Studios in Stockholm with Daniel Rey acting as producer. The following year both Petrov and Hellid would make their presence felt as session guests to the 'Wasting The Dawn' album from Finnish vampire Rockers THE 69 EYES.

Opting for a complete rethink after the artistic failure of 'Same Difference' ENTOMBED went back to the very basics. Relieving some of the pressure the group put out a mini-album, entitled 'Black Ju Ju' in November 1999 through leading US Stoner imprint Man's Ruin Records comprising entirely of cover versions. Honoured would be CAPTAIN BEYOND's 'Mesmerization Eclipse', ALICE COOPER's 'Black Juju', HEY ON GLUE's 'Sentimental Funeral', TWISTED SISTER's 'Tear It Loose', JERRY'S KIDS 'Lost', BOB DYLAN's 'The Ballad Of Hollis Brown' and 'Satan', originally by THE DWARVES.

The 2000 album 'Uprising', costing a miserly £4'000, being deliberately under produced by engineer Nico Elgstrand at Das Boot Studios, harked back to past glories. Not only was the old logo revived but the album cover was in fact the artwork from their original 'But Life Goes On' demo tape. If that was not enough ENTOMBED reworked the title track from 'Left Hand Path' retitling it 'Say It In Slugs'. DISMEMBER's Fred Estby laid down drums on two tracks, 'Year In Year Out' and 'Returning To Madness'. US editions of 'Uprising', on Sanctuary's Metal-Is imprint, added three extra tracks. With ENTOMBED's star in the ascension once again, former label Earache issued a set of live tapes culled from a 1992 London Astoria show for the 'Monkey Puss - Live In London' album.

2000 also saw Cederlund and Stjärnvind in collusion with DISMEMBER's Matti Karki and Richard Cabeza for their MURDER SQUAD project album 'Unsane, Insane And Mentally Damaged'. Another ENTOMBED offshoot, the Thrash band BORN OF FIRE, would see Stjärnvind and Cabeza in alliance with Dimman and ex-UNLEASHED and present day LOUD PIPES and TERRA FIRMA bassist Fredda Lindgren. Sandström would also engage publicly with his new act the Gothic-Electro Death Metal unit THE PROJECT HATE.

The band performed an about turn with their next album set, September 2001's 'Morning Star' delving back into prime Death Metal territory and considerably boosting ENTOMBED's album sales as evidenced by a respectable number 41 entry on the Swedish charts.

ENTOMBED would stretch their creativity during February and March 2002 with a series of ambitious concert performances at the Royal Opera Hall in Stockholm. Billed as the 'Unreal Estate' these gigs witnessed a 45 minute ENTOMBED set complimented by a ten year old actor and a ballet troupe! Recordings from these shows surfaced during 2004 as the 'Unreal Estate' album.

Bassist Jörgen Sandstrom, acting as a guitarist, and drummer Peter Stjärnvind would announce the formation of a new side venture entitled KRUX featuring such prominent players as Leif Edling of CANDLEMASS, guitarist Michael Amott of ARCH ENEMY and vocalist Tomas Person. KRUX signed up to Mascot Records for their debut, although a line-up change saw erstwhile YNGWIE MALMSTEEN and ABSTRAKT ALGEBRA frontman Mats Leven assuming the mantle of lead vocalist. Uffe Cederlund would embark on another high profile side concern entitled WASHOE in alliance with the MISERY LOVES CO. trio of Vocalist Patrick Wirén, bass player Patrick Thorngren and drummer Olle Dahlstedt. The title of this band would be subsequently be switched to ALPHA SAFARI.

Music For Nations released a compilation of ENTOMBED archive cover versions and B sides in 2002 billed as 'Sons Of Satan-Praise The Lord'. In December Cederlund revealed plans for renewed live action with his pre-ENTOMBED band HAYSTACK featuring Johan from the BACKYARD BABIES on bass and Jonas of the THE MAGGOTS on drums.

The band's May 2003 album 'Inferno' was produced by Pelle Gunnerfeldt and accelerated the renewed appreciation for the band, hitting number 21 on the domestic charts. Vinyl versions surfaced on the group's own imprint Threeman Recordings and boasted the inclusion of an exclusive extra track 'When Humanity Is Gone'.

September and October European shows had NINE and DISFEAR as support before the band forged a union with KING DIAMOND for US touring throughout October and November. Canadian gigs planned for Toronto and Montreal would be cancelled as drummer Peter Stjärnvind was found to be suffering from "2 pus filled boils in his throat area". Returning home for the December Scandinavian 'Close-Up Made Us Do It' tour alongside DISFEAR and RAISED FIST, Uffe Cederlund doubled up duties as live guitarist for DISFEAR.

In January of 2004 ENTOMBED parted ways with Jörgen Sandström and drafted Nico 'Moosebeach' Elgstrand, formerly of ALBATROSS and TERRA FIRMA, in his stead. Sandström maintained his ties with both THE PROJECT HATE and KRUX as well as joining Stockholm based Death Metal band VICIOUS ART. Another record he featured on would be a 2004 album from THE MIGHTY NIMBUS, featuring on a cover of the SAINT VITUS track 'Born Too Late'. Primitive Art Records released a split single of ENTOMBED and THE COFFINSHAKERS, both acts covering LEE HAZLEWOOD songs. ENTOMBED donated their version of 'Some Velvet Morning'. Lars-Göran Petrov recorded a guest appearance for the E-TYPE Electro Pop album 'Loud Pipes Save Lives'.

North American dates would be announced for March, but then retracted as the band was unable to secure a work visa for Nico Elgstrand in time. The revised band undertook a batch of Australian gigs in April, with support coming from DAYSEND. US versions of the 'Inferno' opus released in August through Candlelight added a bonus disc of extra material dubbed 'Averno' comprising two previously unreleased songs from the 'Inferno' sessions and 'When Humanity's Gone' from the 'Inferno' vinyl format. Also featured would be promotional videos for 'Retaliation' and 'Albino Flogged In Black'. Meantime, Alex Hellid acted as producer for all girl Metal band MISDEMEANOR's second album, 'High Crimes & Misdemeanor' for GMR Music.

ENTOMBED headed up a package billing comprising CROWBAR, PRO-PAIN, and THE MIGHTY NIMBUS for US tour dates in February 2005. A notable gig came in July at the 'Peace And Love' festival in Borlänge, Sweden when erstwhile drummer Nicke Andersson joined the band onstage as fill in guitarist for Uffe Cederlund, the latter on the road with DISFEAR. However, in early September the band put out an official statement that Uffe Cederlund was "no longer in the band". ENTOMBED persevered, also drafting ALPHA SAFARI and ex-MISERY LOVES CO. session drummer Olle Dahlstedt. In early November ENTOMBED revealed 'Serpent Saints' was to be the title of a new album, set for a September 2006 release through Threeman Recordings. The group entered Studioland studio in Upplands Väsby in mid-December.

During late 2005 two ex-ENTOMBED members, Nicke Andersson and Jörgen Sandström, concocted the deliberately retro-styled Death Metal combo DEATH BREATH, being joined by guitarist Robert Persson of THUNDER EXPRESS.

First ENTOMBED product for 2006 would be the EP 'When in Sodom', issued in June. Norwegian concerts in September witnessed support from MANIFEST. European show announced November, dubbed the "Masters Of Death", had the band lined up with a supremely heavyweight Scandinavian cast of DISMEMBER, GRAVE and UNLEASHED. The group was then set unite once more with DISMEMBER, GRAVE plus THE ABSENCE for a US West Coast tour in December. However, ENTOMBED pulled out, stating that "conflicts with the promotor, breach of trust and straight-up lies" had forced their hand.