After
Entombed
left
Earache Records
after
Wolverine Blues
, the label released this eponymous odd-and-ends compilation, which is primarily comprised of the band's EP releases:
Out of Hand
,
Stranger Aeons
Crawl
, and
Night of the Vampire
. There's some good music here, even if almost half of these dozen songs are covers (
Kiss
'
"God of Thunder,"
Repulsion
's
"Black Breath,"
Roky Erickson
"Night of the Vampire,"
et al.) and another quarter of them well-known singles (
"Out of Hand,"
"Stranger Aeons,"
"Crawl"
). Still,
is for completists only -- those who don't already own the respective EPs, that is -- since the best moments here are more ideally heard elsewhere: the singles on their respective albums, the covers on the double-disc covers collection
Sons of Satan Praise the Lord
, and the
Clandestine
outtakes on the reissue of that album, where they're appended as bonus tracks. Besides,
was an ill-intentioned cash-in release by
Earache
in 1997, released concurrently with
To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth
, the band's long-awaited follow-up to
. ~ Jason Birchmeier