Swedish death metal pioneers Entombed stood out from many of their contemporaries due to their “buzzsaw” guitar tone. It was a tone that would inspire countless bands in its wake. Converge guitarist and producer extraordinaire Kurt Ballou has often cited hearing Entombed as the moment that he realized hardcore and metal could be combined with such spectacular results.

Entombed would evolve beyond straight death metal over the course of their nine studio albums, leaning more and more towards a sound they called “death and roll.” With the departure of founding guitarist Alex Hellid in 2013, it seemed as though Entombed had come to an end. However, the remaining members regrouped under the moniker of Entombed A.D. and released their debut record Back to the Front in 2014.

Today’s Massive Metal Monday track takes us back to 1993 and Entombed’s killer third album Wolverine Blues. Here with the official video for the title track is Entombed performing “Wolverine Blues.”

When I was growing up in rural Indiana in the early ’80s, there was very limited access to heavy music. These were the days before MTV blew up with the whole hair metal, Headbangers Ball phenomenon. But on Sunday nights, there was a two-hour radio show that came from WOXY, just across the state line in Oxford, Ohio (home of Miami University of Ohio). It was called Massive Metal for the Masses, and I would wait all week for it to air. It was through this show that I was introduced to bands like Venom, Bathory, WASP, Michael Schenker Group, Slayer, and countless others. This Monday weekly column is my tip of the hat to that show. I call it Massive Metal Monday. Every week, I pay tribute to defining moments by the artists that laid the groundwork for heavy metal to become the worldwide cultural bond for all of us metal heads.