Original ENTOMBED Members Pay Tribute To LARS-GÖRAN PETROV: 'We Will Forever Miss You'

Original ENTOMBED members Alex Hellid (guitar),Uffe Cederlund (guitar) and Nicke Andersson (drums) have released a statement about the recent passing of Lars-Göran "LG" Petrov. The pioneering ENTOMBED and ENTOMBED A.D. singer died on Sunday, March 7 after a battle with bile duct cancer. He was 49 years old.

Hellid, Cederlund and Andersson wrote: "All the years, all the toil, all the dreams, the struggle, the rewards, the humor, the laughter, and the tears. It's been a long damn journey and the memories are many and fantastic. Everything we've experienced and laughed at together, the big and the small, from being teenage kids to almost growing up. Your now legendary and unique sayings, your 'LGisms', must surely one day find their way into the dictionary. How can you argue against 'Pizza was invented in the late '70s by Turkish people in Bredäng (Sweden)'!

"Our thoughts go to your family, and your wider other family — your many friends all around the world. Through everyone you've touched, you live on. We will forever miss you, a member of our family, and we will always keep the good memories with us.

"Rest in peace LG".

Hellid and Petrov had been embroiled in a legal battle over the ENTOMBED name for several years. In 2014, Petrov was reportedly awarded the right to use the band name in connection with future recording and touring activities, a decision which Hellid appealed without success. The guitarist then went on to register a trademark for spirits production under the "Entombed" name. This move did not sit well with Hellid's former bandmate, who filed a letter of protest against Alex's registration of the name, claiming that it could be confused with band activities. He also said that Hellid acted in "bad faith" when he registered name and that there was a desire to "deceive the public." Petrov's protest, however, found no favor with the Swedish Patent And Registration Office, which rejected his claims on the issue in a March 2016 ruling.

In an interview with Revolution-Music.dk, Petrov defended his group's decision to release albums and tour under the name ENTOMBED A.D. in order to avoid a legal battle with Hellid who didn't want his former bandmates to use the ENTOMBED moniker: "It had to be done, because without an album you can't tour," he explained. "I mean, you can tour, but if there's seven years between albums, it's ridiculously long. So we did the right thing, and we did what bands should do, and still do — release an album and go on tour and headbang and have a good time with friends, and that's what it's all about."

He continued: "There was too much bullshit — crying and whining about things. It's just ridiculous.

"Some people are comfortable staying at home, but then just step aside and let us do our thing.

"We added two letters, but it's still the same band — [only] without people that wanna stay at home, or take millions of years [coming up with] a [new] riff."

Asked if he thinks the ENTOMBED name has been damaged as a result of the drama surrounding the split with Hellid and the decision to continue as ENTOMBED A.D., Petrov said: "Nah, not really. A thousand people have a thousand different opinions — good and bad. But we do what we felt was right. And we're out here touring, and that's the most important [thing], I think. And leave the childishness aside and play metal, basically."

A completely different version of ENTOMBED — featuring Hellid, Cederlund and Andersson — played the band's groundbreaking 1991 album, "Clandestine", in its entirety at Malmö Live in Malmö, Sweden in November 2016. Joining them at the show were Robert Andersson (vocals) and Nicke's half brother Edvin Aftonfalk (bass),both formerly of the Swedish death metal band MORBUS CHRON. Two weeks earlier, the most recent Hellid-led lineup of ENTOMBED made its live debut on the Close-Up Båten cruise.

ENTOMBED A.D.'s latest album, "Bowels Of Earth", was released in August 2019 via Century Media.