Entombed "Wolverine Blues"

Wolverine Blues is the third studio album by Swedish heavy metal band Entombed, released on October 4, 1993 by Earache Records. The album displays a completely different sound from previous releases, combining elements of hard rock, heavy metal, and hardcore while still retaining much of their traditional, death metal roots, in a style that would later be known as death 'n' roll. The band also adopted a mid-tempo groove metal style for this release, similar to that of American heavy metal band Pantera.

One version of Wolverine Blues was released with Marvel Comics' character Wolverine on the cover, despite Entombed never wanting their album to be associated with the superhero. Earache Records, without the band's permission, had made a deal with Marvel in order to use Wolverine to promote the album to a more mainstream audience. This edition included a Wolverine mini-comic inside the CD booklet. The Marvel edition was also heavily edited, with the track "Out of Hand" being removed entirely. A limited number of early pressings of the album contained audio samples taken from films (most notably Flatliners and Hellraiser III) which were subsequently removed from later pressing due to record label fears of potential legal action over their unlicensed use.

In 2005, Wolverine Blues was ranked number 494 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time. The guitar magazine Guitar World labeled Wolverine Blues as "1994’s best death metal effort and quite possibly the finest death metal album of this decade." 

Track listing 

1. "Eyemaster" (Andersson, Hellid) 3:21 
2. "Rotten Soil" (Andersson, Cederlund) 3:27 
3. "Wolverine Blues" (Andersson, Cederlund, Hellid) 2:16 
4. "Demon" (Cederlund, Hellid) 3:22 
5. "Contempt" (Hellid) 4:34 
6. "Full of Hell" (Hellid) 3:24 
7. "Blood Song" (Cederlund, Rosenberg, Andersson, Hellid) 3:25 
8. "Hollowman" (Andersson) 4:29 
9. "Heavens Die" (Andersson, Hakansson) 4:17 
10. "Out of Hand" (Rosenberg, Hellid, Cederlund, Andersson) (removed in Marvel edition) 3:07 

Total length: 35:10

Remastered version bonus track 

1. "State of Emergency" (Originally written by Stiff Little Fingers, 1979) 2:35 

Music videos were made for 'Wolverine Blues' and 'Hollowman'.

This album moved away from their death metal roots to a more "death & roll" style which they would continue to explore with future albums. It also worth mentioning that it features L-G Petrov back on vocals.

There are three different audio versions of the album. The first one had samples in the songs "Eyemaster," "Rotten Soil," and "Out of Hand." The second (with the comic book promotion) and third versions deleted the samples, and the second also edited the song "Hollowman".

Recording information:

Co-produced by Entombed.

Recorded at Sunlight Studios, Stockholm 1992/1993.

Art assistance: Benny Rehn, LG, Z, U, Henrik.

Photo by Z, Benny Rehn, Entombed.