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Well check it out – an Entombed album that doesn't suck. I didn't see that one coming. Despite some enjoyable bits on Morning Star I had pretty much written Entombed off as a lost cause. Despite that their first two albums pretty much defined Swedish Death Metal back in the day, Entombed have spent the better part of the last 14 years sliding down into death rock irrelevancy. But surprise surprise – they have some teeth in them yet.

Serpent Saints isn't a return to form as such, but it's a good try. It's a definitive Death Metal album for one, without more than a touch of the punk/hardcore junk Entombed have been selling for years. Their guitars have some bite, and there are some cool riffs on this thing. LG Petrov sounds better than he has in years, and while the lyrics are still a bunch of yelling and swearing where an intelligent person might expect some substance, at least the band sounds pissed off rather than smugly self-satisfied.

This is the most metal album Entombed have released in years, and slabs of evil fun like the title cut and the gleeful "When In Sodom" make this one well worth checking out. Entombed will never match their early works again, but this is about as close as they are likely to get.