Matt Harvey is one busy dude. When he isn’t forging traditional steel with Pounder, thrashing it up with Scarecrow, churning out Scream Bloody Gore inspired metal with Gruesome, or PLAYING Scream Bloody Gore itself alongside former Death members in Left to Die, he’s touring and recording relentlessly with his main band, Exhumed. Yes, Harvey is so all over the place that it’s gotten to the point where I refer to Exhumed as his “main band”, something I never would’ve imagined when I discovered them roughly a decade ago.
Back then, Exhumed was going through a massive resurgence, having just reformed and subsequently dropping a full length album every other year. In the decade since, Exhumed mania has only continued to sweep the underground, especially with the advent of the OSDM revival in the latter half of the 2010s. It was seemingly overnight that Exhumed went from an opening act for fellow death metal pioneers Carcass and Napalm Death, to a club level headliner in their own right. At least that’s the case here in Chicago, where they sell out the 400 capacity Reggies no problem, and will likely do so again next month on the strength of their latest album, To the Dead.
If you’ve been listening to Exhumed for the past 30+ years, you know exactly what you’re getting with this album before you even drop the needle on it. If you haven’t, allow me to explain in layman’s terms: This is the goriest major metal label release you’ll hear all year. I’m well aware that there are no shortage of Exhumed clones on Bandcamp, cranking out demos that are far gorier, grosser, and unapologetically lo-fi (or even no-fi). That said, these basement projects are a dime a dozen. In a world where so many of their peers tow the line between mediocrity and laziness, Exhumed remains vital as ever, or at least as “vital” as a death metal band can be.
To the Dead channels a lot of the sloppy, filth-ridden goregrind influence of Exhumed’s early output. It isn’t to the point where I’d label this a goregrind release, but there’s definitely a gorier streak to it than 2019’s Horror. Vomit inducing gurgles, repulsive riffing, and bludgeoning blasts dominate the likes of “Putrescine and Cadaverine”, “Drained of Color”, and “No Headstone Unturned”. On some songs, such as “Lurid, Shocking, and Vile” and “Carbonized”, the band doubles down on the grind side of deathgrind. Meanwhile, “Necrotica” channels the dark, diabolical riffing of Illinois gore freaks Impetigo and “Rank and Defile” is a more memorable death n’ roller than anything Carcass has released since reforming.
Although To the Dead is by no means a “gamechanger” of an album, or even one that will likely end up on our year end list (Though I could be wrong), it is yet another commendable offering of mangled, maggot-infested death metal from the viscera feasting mutants known as Exhumed. Deadbangers far and wide will be raising their goblets of gore on high upon spinning this slab of sick supremacy. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll have to piece my cranium back together because my skull split in half.
7 out of 10
Label: Relapse Records
Genre: Death Metal/Grindcore
For fans of: Carcass, Impetigo, Impaled