Exhumed - To the Dead (2022)

Even after what must be my least favorite of their studio albums in 2019's still-decent Horror, I had little concern that Exhumed was a band to ever let me down, and with their follow-up, To the Dead, they haven't. Where the last record fully shot for a less evocative, but more intense roots goregrind experience, this outing heads back in the other direction, with an album-length a full third longer than its predecessor. There are still loads of grinding, blasting riffs here, but that horror death/thrash which defines so many of my favorites in their catalogue (Slaughtercult and  Anatomy is Destiny) continues to dominate, and in fact To the Dead sounds as if were a sequel to 2017's excellent Death Revenge, only tempered with more of the speed and savagery that oldschool fans who probably LOVED Horror would have asked for.

The result is one of their most dynamic full-lengths, catapulting from one of the spectrum to the other, and kicking ass for much of its duration. If you like the clinical, thrash punch of Carcass records like Necroticism or Heartwork, this one has you covered with a bevy of catchy little licks, and not to mention the surgical solos are some of the best Exhumed has ever spewed forth. But the influences are pretty wide, for instance "Drained of Color" has a battering mid-paced riff reminiscent of peak Bolt Thrower, and some of the richer, blasting passages give even the most intense Napalm Death a run for its money. Bringing the full breadth of the rasped and guttural vocal interchange to play, the album is never remotely dull, and I even think the latter seems to have an added depth to it which reminds me of some of the montrous timbre of a Symphonies of Sickness, only more accessible all around due to the seasoned songwriting chops of Matt Harvey and company. The bass has a tone to it which pops along almost like late 80s Overkill, and the drumming flexes effortlessly between the component styles.

I do feel that the mix on To the Dead is a little overly suppressed, or processed, possibly due to the guitar tones, but it's neither a deal-breaker nor does it muddy up the instrumentation to the point where I can't still enjoy it. It's the songwriting that wins out this time, and while it's probably not going to crack my top 3 records from this band, it's just another sign of the stable execution and evergreen fun factor that Exhumed carry with them like a sword and shie...ski mask and chainsaw. The Marc Schoenbach cover is appropriately gnarly and gruesome, the lyrics bounce between sinister and gory, all written to the level that the music deserves. There are NO bad Exhumed albums, they are one of our most concussive and consistent American death metal bands to not only pay homage to their own heroes but to occasionally innovate upon them, and here's another reason why you should climb aboard this midnight meat metal train if for some reason you're still diddling yourself on the platform.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

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Exhumed - Horror (2019)

Much like its simplified, stripped down title, Horror sees a stripped down version of Exhumed which is reaching back to its earlier turn-of-the-century roots as a proper post-Carcass death grind. In fact, it almost one-ups their debut Gore Metal in how it so rapidly executes the stylistic decision. That's not to say that all of the band's recordings in the interim lacked these aesthetics, in fact they were always present to an extent, but the band had focused on a lot of thrashier, even more melodic elements, and frankly it often ended up with some pretty great songwriting. Now, to be fair, this is no record of absolutes, there are some mid-paced thrash breakouts, and the same entertaining and frantic lead guitars they have been spewing forth the last decade or so, but it's certainly one of their fastest if not the single fastest album of their career.

For death & grind diehards who probably dropped the band after Slaughtercult, or staunch fanatics for earlier Carcass, Napalm Death and Repulsion, this is probably a godse....goresend?! They're getting all of that primal energy, short tracks that almost all fall between the 1-2 minute duration, the mix of snarls and gory guttural vocals that the band has always championed in the Carcass tradition, and if they're also gore/horror fans, a very sweet retro artstyle on the cover which is nearly as cool looking as the last album Death Revenge. The chainsaw guitars and buzzing bass lines come fast and furious, the drumming is intense, and the core of the group's sound is all present. The energy is palpable, Exhumed show no signs whatsoever of slowing down or experimenting beyond what is expected of them, and the lyrical topics are a pretty stock selection of paeans to horror tropes like slashers and zombie flicks. Horror checks off almost all the boxes that it should, but if I'm being honest, as much of a fan of this band as I've become through the years, I found this one solid, but also lacking...not in kills, but in thrills beyond a few select riffs and leads.

To me, lot of grind music falls into the trap of constructing a string of average, derivative punk, thrash or death metal guitar riffs and accelerating them to the degree that their momentum alone can seem to obfuscate the fact that they're quite dull when dissected. The better albums of the genre are the ones that rise to this challenge and manage to offer a new spin, a new sound into the pummeling velocity. Take bands like Antigama, or some of the recent Napalm Death albums, as examples of how this can be kept fresh and alive; but for every one of those, there are scores of others which simply exist like an echo chamber of aggression. Granted, you could say this same thing about any other metal sub-genre, sure, but with grind and deathgrind it always stood out more, since the music was just so spastic and frenzied that I felt I should be more engaged. A lot of the tunes go in one ear and out the other, with the only reaction being 'that was fast' or 'that was angry'. A very temporal visceral response. Horror suffers from this to an extent, but it maintains just enough of Exhumed's charm, production standards and competence over its 15 tracks that 26 minutes that it gets a pass. But there's simply no way I'd break this out over Death Revenge, Necrocacy, Anatomy is Destiny, or their first two, Gore Metal and Slaughtercult, which already gave me what I'd want out of this one, only with better songs.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

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Exhumed - Death Revenge (2017)

Innovation is an unlikely event at this point in the trajectory of California's Carcass-inspired death-grinders Exhumed, but I'm not sure if it's even needed. If they can consistently deliver the goods like they have with their 6th full-length (discounting the comps and re-recording of Gore Metal), and sound like they're having a whole lot of fucking fun doing so, then I just don't see myself growing the least bit bored listening to it. This is not a band which has ever let me down, not to say that all their records have been equivalent with one another in quality, but there isn't one among them that I'd put on and not enjoy to some extent. Having said that, Death Revenge is the most entertainment I've had since Anatomy is Destiny in 2003, and it wisely carries forward a lot of the little permutations they first made on that album to glorious results...

In fact, I think Death Revenge serves as a sort of retrospective of all their output, perhaps never going quite as visceral or heavy as Gore Metal or Slaughtercult, but certainly putting the pedal to the deathgrind and keeping pace with some of their faster canon when it needs to. Much of the writing here is of a mid paced, clinical death/thrashing variety, consistent with Necrocacy and All Guts, No Glory before it, very heavily focused on eking out memorable riff patterns and then splattering them with all manner of wailing, amusing heavy metal leads. Exhumed started to take on a more melodic quality on that third album which they've maintained, and it simply adds so much more variety then had they just kept channeling Symphonies of Sickness or Necroticism. They never quite go full on heavy metal or rock & roll like their inspirations did as the 90s wore on, but keep the progressions punchy and intricate, with lots of flash and flair, as in cuts like "Defenders of the Grave" and "Dead End", busy and kinetic enough to mask the fact that you've probably heard most of these riffs before, and not afraid to splay you out with the meatsaw blasting when it fits.

The mix is clean and balanced, maybe a little too dry or polished in places, but to make up for that it delivers clarity between the rhythms, leads, percussion, snarls and gutturals, even the bass as it pops and plunks and thunders along, often using a lot of simpler, sustained notes under the kinetic guitars to give the sound a nice roundedness. The leads here are every bit as precise and competent as on a Surgical Steel or At the Gates' At War With Reality; a component of the band that has become so important in that it precludes them just endlessly aping their first two albums, which were much more unhinged in that department. The blasting is furious enough to balance off against the headbanging mid-speeds and breakdowns. What's more, there are lots of subtle little nods here to thrash and death metal icons of past and present, specifically a few evil Slayer-like progressions or moments where you feel like you've been submerged in some long lost Death track from the late 80s. Lots of details for something that is essentially as straightforward as past outings.

Furthermore, this is just aesthetically satisfying, with an orchestrated, cinematic piano/synth/string intro well worthy of horror classics in the 70s and 80s, reaching a huge crescendo before the bands kicks up the grave dirt and twists your head off in its zombified arms. The artwork choice is really fucking awesome, a folded up poster look from some cult US or Italian cinema which is more than likely gonna involve mobile corpses or some psycho you're not going to want (or get) a second date with. The lyrics are genuinely excellent, with a lot of effort put into them and a lot more elaborate prose than your typical gore mavens, a really cool grave robbing theme and narrative set in early 19th century Scotland! All the pieces are in place here, perhaps not for a true classic of the decade, or even a year's end contender, but just an extremely competent, seasoned record that seems rather timeless in its appeal despite the fact that it doesn't have all the best riffs and vocals exactly where you'd want to shove them. I even kind dug the cover of Exodus "A Lesson in Violence", if only because it was cool to hear them try some blasting and Schuldiner-like growls in it, instead of copying it straight up.

Just a great album for applying your Halloween prosthetics, or kicking back some drinks while you wait for your buds to show up for a slasher marathon. Easily recommended to fans of Impaled, early 90s Carcass, Ghoul, Ex Dementia or the last three records by this very band, Death Revenge proves yet again that Exhumed is one of our very best, dependable American death metal acts, where so many of its peers and precursors flicker, falter and occasionally fuck right off.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (Child of the grave in name and fact)

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Exhumed - Platters of Splatter (2004)

I've mentioned a few times in the past that Exhumed was around for quite awhile before striking up their deal with Relapse which produced their debut Gore Metal, and Platters of Splatter does a hell of a job giving the ardent fan a comprehensive glimpse at not only those earlier demo years, but also a bunch of split material and unreleased tape that was woven around their full-length records up to this point. Clocking in three discs with nearly four hours of content, it's pretty much a dream come true for anyone who wanted to collect their split appearances, demos, and rarer recordings in one place, rather than the arduous trials of bootlegging and tape trading all the originals, what originals were still around. I should point out that this is not the 'complete' discography of the Californians, spanning 1990-1998, but it seems like it was at least a genuine stab at such, and exceptions probably have a good reason for their omissions, maybe sounding far too shitty or just lost to the ages...

Beyond the fact that it's just so massive, with over 70 tracks, it also features a lot of damn fun tunes that would not wind up on the band's better known studio efforts. In fact, you could probably pick out a dozen or so cuts on this that, if polished up, might have made for a great studio album themselves. The style is largely British goregrind-influenced (Carcass, Napalm Death), with a few tunes veering off into a thrashier territory, some others representative of a more old school US death terrain circa 80s Death and their like. Unlike a lot of other grind-evolved acts, Exhumed had a lot more structure to the material, with songs generally hovering around the 2-3 minute mark, not just 30-60 seconds of spastic excess but a very riffy take on the medium which took the more political overtures of earlier Carcass and transformed it into a serial killer streak inspired by serial killers and other staples of horror, both real world and cinematic. The Carcass naming conventions thrived in a lot of tracks like "Necrovores: Decomposing the Inanimate", "Dissecting the Caseated Omentum" and "Carneous Corneal Carbonization", but they also had some good old 90s brutal USDM silliness like "Necro Transvestite", "Oozing Rectal Feast" and "Bone Fucker".

As much of a treat as it is to hear tunes from the 92-95 demos, I think the strongest material is some of the split work like the whopping 11 cuts they did alongside Hemdale (In the Name of Gore, 1995), which are more or less full-blown Exhumed constructions that feel flush with the studio material they'd put out a few years later. There are also a few covers present here which are thankfully NOT redundant with the Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated covers album they put out later. Granted, a few like Possessed's "Death Metal" just come across as cluttered, clamorous and forgettable, and other obvious choices like Carcass' "Exhume to Consume" are too close in nature to the originals and just nowhere near as compelling, but hearing them mince up King Diamond's "No Presents for Christmas" is worth a laugh or two, though I think the irony is self-evident and I might have preferred they left off the shrill vocal tribute and just went all out gore on the thing, making it 100% their own.

The second disc features a lot of the content, and some of it sounds bloody fresh despite the decade that had elapsed before they were released on this compilation. I think the one disc that just doesn't hold up to the rest is the third, featuring a lot of alternate and live radio recordings of tunes that are redundant to those you'll find elsewhere. Not that they sound bad in that context at all, but it's hard to pair up stuff like this with old, rare tunes I genuinely haven't heard and maintain my interest level. It's a solid close to the compilation, but personally I found most of the hideous highlights confined to the earlier discs. All told, though, this is a pretty thorough retrospective of a band that is honestly among the brightest and most visceral we've had in the states through the late 90s and 21st century, surely derivative but actually honoring their forebears and then putting some genuine, energetic spin on the formulas, not ignoring other inspirations in their metal canon and imbuing some thrash and melody in their momentum away from just Reek of Symphonies of Necroticism Part III.XS. Awesome band, and even though I'd make a line straight for their studio full-lengths first, if you did find this lying around at a decent price then it's packed with gut-sawing entertainment.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

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Exhumed - Gore Metal: A Necrospective 1998-2015 (2015)

I'm a little conflicted over whether or not an album like Gore Metal even warranted a re-recording. Not that it's my call to make, but the original was an excellent, gruesome launching of  Exhumed from the demophiliac ranks into national recognition, and even if it was surpassed by Slaughtercult in my eyes, I'd still argue that the first was a contemporary classic of US death metal, shucking the cliche Suffocation-inspired trajectory for a slightly more antiquated style, that of British gore-grinding legends Carcass, and then applying a little more modernist meat to the bone, if only to saw it right back off. On the other hand, having been a musician myself for most of my life now, I can understand the little perceived flaws that can build up on an artist's conscience, how he or she might have gone about a recording differently if there were different equipment, production facilities, or mixing ideas in place at the time. Whether or not Gore Metal: A Necrospective 1998-2015 is redundant or not becomes moot, because the product has arrived, it's got a cover image paying homage to its original incarnation, and for younger or newer fans who don't care about hearing or officiating music in context to its creation, this might as well become the de facto version of the album...

Now, I didn't have a lot of quips with the production of the original, but I think the point of this was to bring the guitar tones and mix of the other instruments into a more level balance with their recent records, and that certainly works, but at the cost of the record feeling a lot less vulgar and grotesque. But the biggest change here is how those higher-pitched deathgrind rasp vocals that were originally cultivated from the Carcass influence, in how they interacted with the gutturals, have here been supplanted with a voice that is more akin to the splatter-thrash of filthy 80s punk/crossover/thrash bands, most notably Blaine Cook of The Accused. It really makes this sound a little more unique within its niche, and the dirtier fuzz on the guitars helps to make it feel a lot more like the proto grind this band was partly reared on through its formative years; while some of the faster mute chugging sequences (as in "Open the Abscess") bring to mind the early years of Death, Autopsy, and so forth. Exhumed is also a band which has consistently developed its frenzied lead style through the years to incorporate a lot more melody and structure, something they interestingly seem to eschew here as they adhere more to that random Slayer lead style that became so vital to the death metal groups that actually gave a shit about incorporating them to begin with.

Gore Metal: A Necrospective has a more 'organic' feeling than its forebear, a bit more of an earthen depth and tone to it than the pure flesh-carving of the original which felt like a more 'street' version of stuff like Symphonies of Sickness meets From Enslavement to Obliteration. But that said, for any of its flaws, I really preferred the original to this, even if it wore influences a little more boldly on its sleeves, I just feel like it hit me a lot harder then than this one does now. So, if you were fond of Gore Metal 1998, as I am, I really don't know that I can give this a recommendation. It doesn't lack that level of energy, and the vocal change is surely a good one, but maybe one I'd like to hear them explore more on an album of new content altogether. The songs overall on this simply do not 'fire' the originals, and if I want some organ-grinding sickness, I'd rather go with those. But if you're open to a mildly altered mutation of the tunes, with a few different musicians in the mix (but a lot of the original guys doing guest spots), then this is by no means bad. Maybe the creator really wanted it to sound like this all along? I just won't reach for it over Gore Metal, Slaughtercult, Anatomy of Destiny, or even the last two albums for that matter, and time is in short supply these days, so it's not much more than an ugly curiosity I'll forget about. But it's nothing to get my panties in a bunch over, unless of course it leads to Slaughtercult 2.0. Don't do it, guys!

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

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Exhumed - Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated (2005)

When it comes to a collection of covers like this one, I'm always more interested in hearing how bands can transform tunes that you might not expect into something which sounds naturally their own, rather than just picking a potpourri of popular metal tunes they grew up on and playing them closer to the hilt. To the credit of Exhumed, Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated isn't just some paean to a who's who of death and grind influences (Carcass, Napalm Death), which would have been obvious. Nope, it reaches pretty far into the realms of punk, thrash, doom and classic hard rock, and while the results are often middling or less than impressive, at least if feels like they didn't wanna put too much thought into selection, but more into creating a 'party' sort of tribute record which remains frantic and fun with a few odd ducks in the row. But ironically, it's some of the metal tracks they cover that seem to work the best, given an injection of visceral energy not unlike what the Californians were pulling off on their first few full-lengths.

The Cure's "A Reflection", which opens this disc, is probably the most out of place; they basically just heavily electrified and harmonized the central melody, a cover of an intro serving as an intro, and it doesn't exactly reflect the 'fun' tone of the majority of choices here. Prevalent are the punk and violent hardcore tunes (Samhain, GBH, Siege, etc), the best of which is probably the brutal chugging and dual growl/snarls used on Amebix' "The Power Remains", though none of these are particularly memorable beyond the fact that they are successful transplants into a medium arguably nastier than their original forms. Where Exhumed excel is once again those harmonies in the bridges and lead, which really breathe fresh air into this track, as well as Master's "Pay to Die" which just fucking rips in their murderous mitts, and is ironically my favorite cover on the disc, despite what I mentioned earlier about how I'd rather the bands stayed out of their stylistic safety zones. The middle of the album does have a pair of semi-safe choices in Zeppelin's "No Quarter" and Metallica's "Trapped Under Ice", they grind up the latter efficiently but I'd have to say neither of these were really among the highlights here.

A couple more West Coast thrash tunes, Sadus' "Twisted Face" and Epidemic's "In Fear We Kill" seem like natural enough fits, but despite being slathered in Matt Harvey's Carcass-esque ravings they lack the visceral punch of their original incarnations. On the other hand, Pentagram's "The Ghoul" sounds just monstrous with the raunchy crunching rhythm guitar tone, baleful harmonies, and the toilet bowl level gore vocals. Unseen Terror's "Uninformed" is the sort of selection I would have expected all over this album, but of all the tunes it takes the least liberties and I'd rather just throw on the original. Then again, that's the case for everything here...songs sound loud, vulgar, and straight to the face, but it all just lacks that carnal punch of Exhumed's original material. Oftentimes you'll get a death metal cover like Cannibal Corpse doing Razor's "Behind Bars" which is surprisingly fun, but here I felt most the moments I was most interested in were the leads, and there are really no strange choices made anywhere except the intro, which is just a brief instrumental. Sounds like the guys had some fun putting this together, and I've certainly heard worse from these sorts of projects, but it's a solid 'pass' from me in the end, I'd rather spin Gore Metal, Slaughtercult or Anatomy is Destiny again than bother.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

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Exhumed - Gore Metal (1998)

I've mentioned before that I really like having some 'continuity' for metal niches that I really enjoyed during their original incarnation. Very often a groundbreaking, legendary band arrives and departs from a choice sound within the span of as little as a single album, and in some of those cases I feel like it just wasn't explored to its fullest. That's not to imply that soulless knockoff bands should get a free pass when they can't apply even an iota of personality or raw conviction to their chosen nostalgia trip, but there are certainly scores of bands who cultivate a more genuine obsession. As far as England's seminal Carcass, their rapid musical evolution across albums left some of the 'possibility' of their earlier work in the dust, and as much as I love discs like Necroticism and (especially) Heartwork, I was quite relieved when a handful of Californian acts decided to pick up the torch from where Symphonies of Sickness left off and further carve out that specific aesthetic into something immortally volatile, grotesquely fun.

Exhumed first came onto my radar with the Relapse debut Gore Metal, although they had already been butchering cadavers for nearly a decade prior to that, manifesting right about the time that British classics like Symphonies of Sickness, Realm of Chaos and From Enslavement to Obliteration were starting to make ripples across the pond. So it's not too much of a stretch that this early grind sound plays so prominently into their development. Yet Matt Harvey, Ross Sewage and company imbued this with a healthy helping of carnal thrash, Floridian morbidity (in particular from the Scream Bloody Gore/Leprosy era of Death) and a lot more structure than progenitor efforts like Scum and Reek of Putrefaction would ever be accused of. Carcass is what I hear the most clearly, to be sure, with to the warring guttural and snarl vocals and flesh-churning guitar tone, but not every riff progression is some analog for those meat-hating metallurgists. Where their British forerunners had a more political theme behind their songs, citing medical journals to make the listener sick to his/her stomach, you can tell from the get-go that Exhumed were more interested in the slasher and gore genres of horror film...so these cold, forensic lyrics, which have a similar clinical quality to them, seem more like the aftermath of a murder spree...

But the music, that better recounts the actual act, with this fat, voluptuous rhythm guitar tone which feels like someone packed Repulsion's Horrified into some delicious, fatty livestock, seasoned it with Pestilence's Consuming Impulse and then served it raw, by the slice. Regardless of whether you want to call this 'gore-grind' or 'death-grind', the songs eschew the obnoxious practice of :50 of blasting, sloppy riffs and haiku-like lazy political ravings and morph into pure metal tunes, with demented, wailing leads that fit the tireless momentum perfectly. Oh, fear not, there are loads of blast beats, but these are balanced off against the death/thrashing obtrusions of a Leprosy, squirming entrail Symphonies of Sickness grooves, and King/Hanneman frenzies which abandon all home of coherent melodic components to reward the listener a more fresh perspective on 'the kill', the undiluted chaos of pure violence. Col Jones keeps the time with loads of fills ricocheting around the mix, and a solid tone to the kicks, toms and snare which don't mirror the more processed sounding drums of the brutal tech death movement that was in full swing by this point; and the bass guitar metes out the normal grinding fuzz, but still seems quite corpulent beneath the incendiary six-strings.

Gore Metal didn't tear my face off nearly as much as its successor, but to this day I think it's rightly a 90s 'classic' in the field which doesn't seem to age much...in fact I enjoy the album more than I did when initially exposed to it, and would easily recommend it to anyone who just wants some kinetic mayhem emanating through the speakers. Again, it's not exactly a repackaged Carcass, they've managed that themselves with Surgical Steel...but if you were seeking out a 'mirror universe' of that band who let themselves loosen up and have fun, this was the album that quenched the urge long before retro death became this overcrowded norm. A well-fed upgrade to a wealth of classic grind, tearing its way across the States and beyond, while General Surgery was simultaneously flavoring the same inspiration with their native Swedish crust overseas. This disc definitely scored the first few goals for bringing this sound back around, before being joined by wingmen like Impaled, Ghoul and Frightmare a little further into the game. Well worth owning this grisly, controlled charcuterie.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (a condition impossible to correct)

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Exhumed - Necrocracy (2013)

The summer of 2013 provides us a rather interesting opportunity to pit the work of a death metal master against one of its brightest pupils. I've not yet had the chance to give the Carcass reunion effort Surgical Steel more than a cursory listening, and will wait until picking up the whole record before getting into more analysis, but I CAN tell you that the latest Exhumed effort, Necrocracy, more than holds its own against the samples I've heard. The student isn't receiving straight As across the board here, but Exhumed has never let me down, at least not with a proper full-length, and that isn't about to change with their 5th original album, a volley of tightly knit, thrashing death & grind which honors the Carcass legacy with a jubilant, blood-dripping rhythmic cleaver.

Necrocacy doesn't fall far from where All Guts, All Glory left off, only the production seems a little more compact and rich in execution. If you've heard any of the Californians' prior efforts, then the material will come as no surprise, a hybrid of Symphonies of Sickness/Necroticism era clinical rhythm progressions with a medley of carnal snarls and deeper gutturals that intertwine in a morgue room conversation while the riffs pick over the listeners' remains. Exhumed aren't quite so savage and go-for-the-throat as you might have recalled from Gore Metal or the superb Slaughtercult, but I think it's simply that, with experience, they've gone out for a more controlled production environment where the riffs aren't so blocky and overpowering, and the more carefully detailed leads (almost all of which are great here) definitely hearken back to their 2003 disc Anatomy is Destiny, where arguably they had begun this process of refinement and 'maturity'. But fear not, gore-drenched masses, because Matt Harvey and company have not abandoned you; the lyrics and themes running through the album retain that tongue-in-cheek, surgical ward wink and a nod.

The drums here are really clean sounding, with a lot of volume and bluntness to the kick which puts it on a level with the vocals as the dominant force on the record. Across this dance the thrashing, Heartwork and Necroticism inspired rhythms and harmonies which also take cues not only from the UK gods, but also from classic Californian thrash/speed metal entities like Exodus and Megadeth, and some Napalm Death blast segments for good measure. Bass lines are thick and get a chance to breathe once in a while, though they often accompany the rhythm guitar notes pretty tightly. The vocals are constantly alternating between the traditional Carcass tropes, only the rasped style here has a bit more of a splatterpunk feel to it (like The Accused) and the gutturals aren't quite so overbearing or ominous as they were on older albums (or the seminal works of their prime influence). I do wish they were a little more ghastly and off the meathook, there are points where the syllabic carnage feels too controlled, but when you consider all the vocalists are also playing instruments, they're more than functional and retain their classic personality.

Necrocracy really just comes down to the hooks, of which it provides a near ceaseless parade. Grinding chord progressions often support mid-paced grooves while the uptempo stuff is heavily laden with the traditional, pathos-inducing tremolo patterns and razor-edged harmonies. Rarely a moment passes where you won't feel the urge to whip your neck around and live out a slasher flick antagonist's wet dreams, but the majority of the patterns meted out aren't quite novel, just jerked from the Exhumed/Impaled playbook and executed with exactness. If they weren't pretty damn catchy, that wouldn't be enough here, but tunes like "Ravening", "The Shape of Deaths to Come" and "(So Passes) The Glory of Death" are visceral and exciting enough that you wanna keep spinning through them repeatedly, and the album succeeds on a number of levels: a formidable deathgrind disc, a decent thrash album, etc. Not to mention, the five bonus tracks on the limited edition add some further versatility, from a straight grind ejaculation ("Chewed Up, Spit Out") to the doomlike instrumental ("E Pluribus, Mortem)", which offers a great soundtrack for your next illegal after hours exhumation. A lot of punch here for the money, a damn jolly summer bonesaw. Take that, teach.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

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Exhumed - All Guts, No Glory (2011)

Californian cannibals Exhumed have spent the latter half of the past decade sequestering themselves into their other projects, getting in touch with their feelings, touching and maiming themselves, or whatever other activities occupy the deathgrinder's downtime. Only a handful of split appearances have arrived in the meantime, but at last they've returned to Relapse and the aural slaughterhouse that transformed them into a nation spanning, touring troupe of psychos. Yes, All Guts, No Glory returns more to the hybrid of death, grind and thrash that characterized their rise to prominence in the late 90s: born more of Slaughtercult than Anatomy is Destiny, but instantly familiar to anyone seeking a pre-Swansong Carcass clone who do an admittedly knockout job within the medium.

The trademarks remain: a focus on catchy and intense riffing with a subtext of barbaric thrash interspersed with clinical, creepy melodies, and the mix of snarled and guttural vocals that catapulted Symphonies of Sickness and Necroticism into the vegan trauma ward. Exhumed do not spend all their time aping the British pioneers, of course, and they pull in several influences to once again deliver the goods. This is the first album of originals featuring the two newer members (drummer Danny Walker and guitarist Wes Caley), but they're integration into this grisly autopsy is seamless, and you'll hardly notice a difference between this and Gore Metal save for the slight emphasis on thrashing elements over grinding foundations. I was actually not so thrilled by the preview track "As Hammer to Anvil", but the rest of the record more than compensates, with standouts like the early-Pestilence meets Necroticism duo of "Through Cadaver Eyes" and "Death Knell", the eerily melodic battering ram of "Dis-assembly Line", or the enthusiastic Carcass chaos of "Necrotized".

Not all that glitters is viscera, and a number of the songs do stagnate thanks to a handful of less inspiring filler riffs (for example, "As Hammer to Anvil" has about one worthwhile guitar line). The leads are in general sweet, though, incorporating a canny throwback to traditional metal or melodic death solos, not unlike their previous album, Anatomy is Destiny. This is ultimately a more propulsive and less pensive entity than that, with a rich and punchy guitar tone that deftly delivers the aggression without overbearing the ear, the surgical melodies cutting across the rhythm section with a practiced savagery. It's neither as freshly gutted nor as good as the band's 2000 summit Slaughtercult, an album I personally venerate as the best Carcass tribute in my collection, but it follows pretty closely in those same bloodied footprints, and a ghastly good time if you're willing to look past several of the more mediocre riffs dispersed among the tracks.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.myspace.com/exhumed

Exhumed - Anatomy is Destiny (2003)

Much as its predecessors Gore Metal and Slaughtercult took a heavy Carcass influence and modernized it into an arguably more brutal disposition, Anatomy is Destiny also follows those English lords, but this into the more melodic territory of Heartwork, with a fine balance of chugging, brutal rhythms and melodic metal solos. This isn't to say the album is a complete ripoff, because by this point Exhumed have taken on a life (death) of their own, with a chunky guitar tone and slightly different approach to some of the riffing. It's a heavier and faster album than any of the later Carcass discography. Yet the tongue in cheek humor of their 'mentors' remains intact.

Anatomy is Destiny is not as brutal as Slaughtercult, and in my opinion not as good, but there are still plenty of quality tracks to sink your bonesaw into and let loose. "Waxwork" is a complex piece with a number of large, shifting grooves and grinding blast beats. "The Matter of Splatter" is a ruthless, aggressive thrasher in which all bets are off. The lyrics retain their wild rhyming absurdity (with the band would later transfer over to the Ghoul project).

A morbid matter on which to meditate or mutilate
A deathly detail to deliberate and desiccate
A sombre study in which sagacity is tantamount to insanity
An insalubrious interest in the inhumed and the unsanitary...

But the better gems on the album only begin with the winding melodies of "Under the Knife", and the hyperkinetic riffing of "Consuming Impulse", which has some great vocals. "Grotesqueries" is tense and confusing, neckbreaking goregrind. Other incredible tracks here include the brutal and mesmerizing "Death Walks Behind You" and the grinding gait of "Arclight".

Anatomy is Destiny has a boxy crunch to its rhythmic tones, yet the guitars still slash like surgical knives through the mix. The solos are wild and always provided above some meaty, driving selection of chords. The vocals are what you expect, a mix of snarls and guttural grunts that ape the band's biggest influence. Exhumed have never failed to impress with any of their full-length releases, and while I would place Slaughtercult at the apex of their output, this is a fine addition to their discography.

Highlights: Under the Knife, Consuming Impulse, Arclight, Death Walks Behind You

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (each atrocity exacerbating upon a carnal continuum )

http://www.myspace.com/exhumed

Exhumed - Slaughtercult (2000)

Exhumed, along with Impaled, are essentially the bastard Californian children of the great Carcass. While the latter may emulate the original a little more safely, Exhumed take the dual guttural/snarl vocals and apply them to a lot more 'thrust' in the music. This is fast, furious, vitriol, like a morbid butcher in a rush to clean up the body parts of his latest 'works' before the authorities arrive. Grinding, brutal guitars are not entirely void of melody, and each track on Slaughtercult is a veritable riff slugfest of undeniable pathos. Their second full-length effort, it managed to destroy Gore Metal in all conceivable ways and wound up one of the best death metal albums of Y2K.

This is just one of those unrelenting death metal events which remains entertaining throughout its entire playlength. Most of the 13 tracks clock in around the 2-3 minute mark, the perfect length to get you excited, rev your bonesaw, inject the formaldehyde, molest the corpse, and get the hell out of Dodge. The immediate one-two knockout punch of "Decrepit Crescendo" and "Forged in Fire (Forged in Flame)" is the aural equivalent of a nuclear explosion in your pants. Violent orgasms of spasming, grinding riffage and carnal lyricism.

Scalding and melding her minge
Smell the acid reek of pubic hair singed...
Melt and weld...Raze and smelt
Blistering crotch...Searing hot...

OUCH. "A Lesson in Pathology" once again features great grinding rhythms over the dual bludgeoning throats of Matt Harvey and Mike Beams, and the explosive leadwork is just awesome. "This Axe Was Made to Grind" is pretty much a metaphor for the entire career of this excellent band. "Carnal Epitaph" shows a slight Necroticism/Heartwork influence in its cold but full riffing. "Dinnertime in the Morgue" is simply superb, rarely have I heard cannibalistic grinding death of such intense quality. There is not a stinker in this bunch, unless you mean the stink of corpses, of which there are plenty available to play with. Other choice tracks on this morguenum opus include "Fester Forever", "Slave to the Casket" and "Funeral Fuck".

Eat, drink, and be merry
For tomorrow we die
Meat is just flesh, only temporary
On its pulpous provisions we dine
A carnal cornucopia
Of maturating bowels and offal
The bitter rasp of decay`s pungent taste
Permeates every putrid mouthful

Slaughtercult sounds insanely good even by modern standards. Perfect grinding tones over slightly lower drums in the mix than usual, but this is what creates the punishing sound. The vocals, though totally Carcass clones, create an added layer of percussion. The guitars slay, and not simply because of their aggression, but the amount of quality riffing interweaved with the forward propulsion. If you can sit or stand still while listening to this album, you are out of order. A robot. Exhumed is a whirlwind of chainsaw bliss, worthy of any mortician's meatpile. Like the yeast on a cadaver's nethers, it grows finer with age.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (so many bits and pieces)

http://www.myspace.com/exhumed