Exhumed: To the Dead

With a legacy that now spans decades, Gore Metal pioneers Exhumed are back and in celebration of their long career with a new collection of “modern-sensible old-school death metal� (as they put it) in the form of their new album To The Dead. Led by the only remaining original member, guitarist and vocalist Matt Harvey, Exhumed have this time brought in former band members Mike Beams, Leon del Muerte, Matt Widener and Bud Burketo to assist with the writing process to help with the celebrations.

Exhumed are well known for their no frills approach to Gore drenched Death Metal and on To The Dead they certainly don’t disappoint in that regard. Replete with lyrics that conjure up images of rotting and mutilated corpses, deranged medical procedures and fetid grotesque bodily fluids, To The Dead effortlessly melds this with expected yet killer death metal instrumentation and demented growls that is both fittingly gross but simultaneously a lot of fun. Some Death Metal takes itself very seriously and on the surface this appears to be as well yet to my ears this is one of the Death Metal albums that really comes under the fun category. However that's not to say that the album isn’t brutal because it most certainly is and when I say it’s fun I think that’ll only be for Death Metal enthusiasts like myself.

The production is fairly modern sounding and yet the band also sounds fairly organic. Although I’m not crazy about the drum sounds which seem to stick out like a sore thumb, however that's not an indictment of drummer Mike Hamilton who regardless does a great job. There are small imperfections and character all over To The Dead and that’s all part of the old school charm. Album highlights are the pulverizing yet catchy opener “Putrescine & Cadaverine�, the anguished high speed attack of “Carbonized�, the killer riffing of “Rank and Defile�, “Lurid� with its awesome old school brutality and album closer “Disgusted� with it’s borderline techy riffing.

Exhumed have reached back into their history to deliver up their present, going into the future and it’s equal parts savage brutality, catchy grooves and bile-inducing gore grossness. Everything you could ask for from an Exhumed album.

EXHUMED Are:
Matt Harvey-Guitar, Vocals
Ross Sewage-Bass, Vocals
Mike Hamilton-Drums
Sebastian Phillips-Guitar

Tracklisting:
1. PUTRESCINE & CADAVERINE
2. DRAINED OF COLOR
3. CARBONIZED
4. RANK & DEFILED
5. LURID, SHOCKING & VILE
6. UNDERTAKING THE OVERKILLED
7. NECROTICA
8. NO HEADSTONE UNTURNED
9. DEFECATED
10. DISGUSTED

Added: January 5th 2023
Reviewer: Benjamin Dudai
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 476
Language: english

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