Exhumed - Beyond the Dead EP (2023)

To the Dead was another darn good album from a band that has yet to fail me, but I wasn't completely in love with the production as I was with the tunes, so it didn't scale the heights of Gore Metal, Slaughtercult, or Death Revenge, some of my favorites. Beyond the Dead is a shorter follow-up, in title and overall aesthetics, with just four studio tracks, some of which might have come out as B-sides or bonus tracks, but all new to me at this time. It definitely rights the ship a little, the mix here just sounds a little more clear and vital to me than its predecessor, and the songs are actually quite good if you're into their post-Carcass brand of thrashing death/grind. All the riffs punch hard, the vocals deliver in their gruesome brute/snarl exchange, the leads are well written and it just has that exciting feel I always get from their records.

One of the tunes, "Septic Five" is a shorter piece, like something off 2019's Horror, so I didn't enjoy that as much as "Lysergicide" or "Rapid Unplanned Disassembly", but it still packs a lot into its minute duration and bangs your head four you. As an added bonus, there are also four live tracks which sound absolutely awesome. I've seen the band (more in their earlier years) and they definitely deliver, but these tunes are taken from across their catalogue and sound super clean without losing the sewage bass-lines, saturated gory tone, lead-work and such. Whether it's "In My Human Slaughterhouse" from the chunky debut, or "Dysmorphic" from Necrocracy, everything is performed as an accurate representation of its studio counterpart and as a worthwhile bone thrown to the fans of one our longest-lasting, consistent USDM bands to emerge in the 90s. I think it's digital-only, at least for now, and I do hope that changes, but if you like their recent records like To the Dead and Death Revenge, you won't be disappointed.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

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