UMUR
"But Life Goes On" is the first and only demo release by Swedish death metal act Entombed. The demo was independently released in September 1989, although it was also released through CBR Records. Entombed formed in 1987 as Brainwarp, but soon changed their name and worked under the Nihilist monicker from 1987-1989, after which they shortly split-up and reformed the band (minus bassist Johnny Hedlund) now using the Entombed name. An American band had already taken the Nihilist name, and the remaining members of the band had become increasingly dissatisfied with bassist Johnny Hedlund, and as they didn´t have the courage to fire him, they simply split-up Nihilist (as mentioned above another band had also already taken the Nihilist name, so a name change would have been necessary anyway) and formed Entombed instead without Hedlund. "But Life Goes On" was recorded only a month after the last Nihilist demo ("Drowned" from August 1989) was released.
Recorded at Sunlight Studio with Tomas Skogsberg the material on "But Life Goes On" now features what most people would recognise as the classic late 80s/early 90s Swedish death metal sound. It´s a brutal, meaty, and buzzsaw guitar tone, and heavy power drums. The music is both fast-paced and energetic, but also on occasion heavy and doomy. Lead vocalist L.G. Petrov has a deep growling but still intelligible vocal style. Two of the three tracks from the demo would be re-recorded and included on Entombed´s debut full-length studio album "Left Hand Path" from June 1990.
The Nihilist demos put the band on the map, and both "Only Shreds Remain" (1989) and "Drowned" (1989) sold 3.000 copies each, which in itself is an incredible achievement, but "But Life Goes On" was the last piece of the puzzle which Earache Records needed to sign Entombed. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.