Have you ever watched a movie with an unexpected plot twist? I can think of a few. Fight Club immediately comes to mind, but maybe that’s because I’m going to meet Meat Loaf (“His name is Robert Paulson.”) at a horror convention next weekend. Most of these cinematic plot twists come at the end of the story, concluding on a note we least expected. But how about a plot twist that comes smack dab in the middle of the movie, or in today’s case, album? This is the case with the latest album from Fulci, Exhumed Information.
For those unaware, Fulci is named after legendary Italian horror director Lucio Fulci. They specialize in old school death metal with touches of brutality, though without ever crossing the threshold into brutal death metal territory. Each album is centered around a Fulci (the director) film. Exhumed Information is loosely centered around the 1994 film, Voice from Beyond. The premise of the movie is that a maligned wealthy man is suddenly murdered. His spirit then returns from beyond to help his daughter find his killer.
After an unsettling spoken word intro (“Autopsy”), Fulci unleashes pure midtempo death metal hell. Their ability to conjure such hook laden riffs should be illegal. “Voices” is an exercise in Cannibal Corpse worship, equal parts groovy and gory. “Nightmare” alternates between a malicious mid paced crawl and thrashing insanity, as does “Evil”. “Funeral” is cryptic, heavy, and menacing, practically coming off as (please forgive me) deathcore. The first half of Exhumed Information comes to a frantic close with my choice cut, “Tomb”. Clocking in at a little over two and a half minutes, “Tomb” combines the primal thrashing tendencies of early Cannibal Corpse with the slam side of Suffocation. It doesn’t get more brutal than this!
It should be noted that nearly each song on Exhumed Information‘s first half closed with a brief horror synth passage. This is par the course for extreme metal bands these days. What I didn’t expect was for these brief snippets to be foreshadowing. On “Glass”, Fulci unplugs their guitars and plugs in their synthesizers. I assumed this 80s synthwave soundscape was a mere palette cleanser, but no. It sets the tone for the remainder of the album. “Child” continues the retro-palooza, before “Fantasma” reintroduces us to good old fashioned guitars. However, these aren’t death metal riffs. “Fantasma” boasts a layer of thick doom metal riffage with post-rock flourishes for good measure. These atmospheric undertones closes us out on the ominous “Cemetery”.
Normally, I’d have a meltdown over such a polarizing album. I’d type something along the lines of, “These guys can’t decide whether they want to be Cannibal Corpse or Perturbator!” Fulci said “Screw it!” and did both. And despite the radical sonic differences between death metal and synthwave, somehow it works. Exhumed Information might suffer from musical bipolar disorder, but in this case, suffering is strength.
7 out of 10
Label: Time to Kill Records
Genre: Death Metal
For fans of: Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Perturbator