With the American scene losing some of its impetus at the start of the 1990s thanks to the proliferation of bad hair bands and a flood of generic thrash acts, smaller, less exposed markets were beginning to come to the notice of metal enthusiasts. In the Swedish cities of Gothenburg and Stockholm, a burgeoning underground scene was just awaiting discovery. Out of Stockholm came Entombed, a band that had existed (as Nihilist) since 1987 and one that was making a truly brutal and ugly style of death metal, a style that would quickly become de rigueur for other emerging bands from that region. Entombed had already clearly stated their objectives on Left Hand Path. Here, they simply went to town.

Entombed is yet to make a bad album, and Clandestine is easily one of their best. For those more used to the band's later groove death and punk-edged stylings, the sludgy, horror-movie character and sheer brutality of this album may come as something of a shock, but few could argue that this is a benchmark by which all other death metal to follow would be measured. Unlike the statement in speed that its predecessor had been, Clandestine is almost elaborately intricate, featuring technical arrangements and dark, supernatural themes and lyrics supplied by outside contributor Kenny Håkansson. The distinctive guitar sound of Uffe Cederlund and Alx Hellid is already clearly in evidence, and there are hints of the 'death n' roll' style Entombed would later develop, but here the emphasis is on grinding, gut-churning riffs. Nicke Andersson embellishes and drives the tracks with jaw-dropping drum work and the production gives the album a murky, suffocating atmosphere. Not a single track on here is wasted, from the opening explosion of "Living Dead" through the crawling doom of "Evilyn", the monstrous "Crawl" to the head-caving "Chaos Breed" and the unsettling, evil-sounding "Through the Colonnades" and "Stranger Aeons", Clandestine is not only immensely heavy but a deliberate and carefully-plotted soundtrack of fear.

This mood is further enhanced by the unusual vocals, a series of raw and undeveloped grunts and screams from drummer Andersson. In one of those freaks of chance that can often make a merely good album into a great one, Andersson only initially laid down the vocals as a guide for Carnage bassist Jonny Dordevic, who had been chosen to replace the recently-fired LG Petrov, but in the end they were never replaced. The result could not have been planned better, because his uncharacteristic style just gels perfectly with Clandestine's chaotic arrangements and dark, sinister feel. This album is like a nightmare come to life, a groping swamp-born horror of a work that is absolutely essential and without doubt one of the best death metal releases of all.