Entombed "Left Hand Path (Japan, Toy's Factory, TFCK-88579)"

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

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.

The more melodic, ambient section that comes in at 3:54 of the title track is a cover of the theme from the 1979 horror film Phantasm.

The album is known for defining the style of Swedish death metal by being the first recording to use the "buzzsaw" guitar tone. The tone was created by heavily detuned electric guitars (To B) used 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.

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.

"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.

1. Left Hand Path 06:37   
2. Drowned 03:57  
3. Revel in Flesh 03:39
4. When Life Has Ceased 04:07  
5. Supposed to Rot 02:00
6. But Life Goes On 02:56   
7. Bitter Loss 04:19   
8. Morbid Devourment 05:21  
9. Abnormally Deceased 02:56
10. The Truth Beyond 03:24   
11. Carnal Leftovers 02:55  
12. Premature Autopsy 04:24  
13. Crawl 06:13   

Time:  52:48  

Features an additional insert in Japanese.

Arrangements by Entombed / Nihilist.

Ddrums were used for parts of the drum set.

Some of the tracks featured on this album were written while the band went under the name of Nihilist.

The title track incorporates an interpolation of the theme from the 1979 horror film Phantasm.

Guitarist Alex Hellid found the term 'Left Hand Path' in Anton LaVey's book The Satanic Bible, while it was drummer Nicke Andersson's decision to use it as the album title.

Recording information:

Recorded and mixed at Sunlight Studio, Stockholm, December, 1989.

Co-produced by Entombed.

Tomas Skogsberg – production, engineering

Dan Seagrave – cover art

Micke Lundstrom – photography

David Windmill – design