Entrails

Entrails, a Swedish death metal outfit, operates under the direction of founding guitarist and primary songwriter Jimmy Lundqvist. Widely regarded as one of the genre’s most prominent acts, the group earns frequent descriptions from reviewers as “arena metal.” Their draw stems from an unwavering commitment to classic Swedish death metal conventions, expressed through grimy, overdriven guitars that deliver chainsaw tones via double-picked single-note runs and chugging riffs. The sonic template further incorporates distorted, low-tuned bass, forceful martial drumming, and prominently mixed growled vocals. Although personnel shifts have been frequent, this sonic identity has stayed constant, creating an audible continuum across releases that begins with the FDA Rekotz-issued Tales from the Morgue in 2010, continues through the 2013 Metal Blade debut Raging Death, and extends to 2019’s Rise of the Reaper. Within old-school death metal circles, this unbroken connection to tradition appeals strongly to listeners who regard stylistic evolution as a dilution born of trend-chasing. Consequently, Entrails headline major festivals across North America, Europe, and South America.

Although the project did not fully solidify until 2008, Jimmy Lundqvist originally assembled Entrails in 1990; the group disbanded before the decade ended without issuing any recordings. Years afterward, Lundqvist rediscovered the band’s early demos and chose to re-record the songs himself, yielding the 2009 release Reborn. FDA Rekotz signed the Swedish act in 2010, at which point Lundqvist assembled a complete lineup and issued the first proper album, Tales from the Morgue, later that same year. The follow-up, The Tomb Awaits, appeared in 2011, after which the band secured a Metal Blade contract the next year. With a roster that now included vocalist-bassist Joakim Svensson, guitarist Mathias Nilsson, and drummer Adde Mitroulis, Entrails recorded their third album, Raging Death, which Metal Blade released in mid-2013. In 2014 the band issued Resurrected from the Grave, a compilation of early, previously scarce demos that Lundqvist had re-recorded upon reactivating the project. Their fourth studio album, Obliteration, surfaced in 2015, succeeded by World Inferno in 2017. Metal Blade previewed the next record by releasing the single “Crawl in Your Guts” in August 2019 and “The Pyre” the following month; Rise of the Reaper arrived in mid-October, mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö.