UMUR "Black Juju" is an EP release from November 1999 by Swedish death´n´roll act Entombed. The EP was released by Man´s Ruin Records. "Black Juju" fills the gap between the two full-length studio albums "Same Difference (1998)" and "Uprising (2000)".

The vinyl version of the EP contains 4 tracks while the CD version contains 8 tracks. I´ll be reviwing the CD version. Out of the 8 tracks on the EP 7 are cover tracks. "Vices by Proxy" are as far as I know an original Entombed track. The rest are covers by as different artists as Twisted Sister, Alice Cooper, Jerry´s Kids, Hey on Glue and Captain Beyond. All tracks are well played and interpreted but there´s nothing on the EP that makes me go crazy. I guess the lack of death metal elements on the EP isn´t something that suits my personal taste much. It was expected though as the band had become more and more melodic on the last couple of albums. Hard rock and punk elements were also a dominant part of Entombed´s sound at this point in time. When talking about cover albums/ EPs the most interesting thing is of course how the originals are interpreted and while I only know about half of the originals, I´d say that those I do know are interpreted really well. Entombed put a personal touch on the songs and that´s always honourable. The sound production, which is just a step up from raw garage sound, suits the music well.

"Black Juju" is a nice break between albums, but not much more, and it´s not the most necessary release even for a fan. Overall I enjoy it though and a 3 star rating is warranted.