Check out the creative album cover, most likely due to some punk not following the laws of driving, and ended up as a slab of death and slime on the ground. The person was probably eating a McRib, while driving, their hands getting all saucy and the steering wheel slipping right outta their hands…BOOM!!!!

Exhumed is always fun to listen to and is brutal as well. Well-played death grind has to have catchy and well-written songs, and Exhumed ALWAYS brings it. 10 songs in 37 minutes, “Unsafe at Any Speed”, starts with some brash drums and the dual vocals of Matt (higher rasps) and Ross with the gutturals are a well-oiled machine. After some mid-paced moments, the blast beats erupt with the dual vocals, still bringing back those early Carcass vibes. Terrific guitar solos, taking us back to the Carcass Heartwork era, big time, this moment bringing forth more melody than what one is accustomed to from Exhumed. The blasting continues and is tight AF. It’s a pleasant surprise to also have both vocal styles mixed in as well as what we get here. The low ends are not buried.

The title track starts with more melodic Carcass-inspired moments, as this song is mid-paced with terrific guitar melodies. At the 2.18 with the brief isolated guitar riff, we go right into a perfectly timed blast beat. The song settles into a vintage galloping head banging moments, which brings a smile to my face, since I love these moments. More melodic guitar soloing, then right into more blasting.

“The Iron Graveyard” starts with an opening. I was expecting a blast beat, but nope. Into a gallop, then the blast hits, and the guitar riffing is razor sharp, again with snippets of melody tossed in for good measure. Galloping, blast, rise, repeat. I am a sucker for these types of tempo shifts. Yet another killer song.

“Crawling from the Wreckage”, with the isolated distorted bass guitar, is excellent, as the powerful groove hits…Oh, in case you were wondering Exhumed have crafted what could be considered a concept album, as pretty much each song speaks of the horrors of vehicular accidents, as well as some transients, who get off on being at those types of crime scenes. This song has a fair amount of blasting, melodic soloing, and the last 30 seconds of this tune are intense.

“The Fumes” brings the madness to a close. Excellent isolated guitar riffing and a slow gallop of sorts take center stage for the duration. One will not be able to stop headbanging to this tempo, while also doing some fist-banging mania. More guitar solos erupt, then back into the gallop. The double bass drums, over these moments, are effective. If anything, this song has more in common with traditional heavy metal than true extreme metal. The nods to classic metal bands are quite intriguing. One would maybe expect the band to end as brutally as they started. But not here. Exhumed is mixing things up for us long-time fans.

Red Asphalt sees an even more mature Exhumed, as they whip out more melody on this album than maybe what we are used to. Make no mistake, there are tons of high velocity blasts across the album, just more melody inserted throughout the album.

Exhumed never disappoints, one of the few bands, and christ I have been listening to them for 20 years, that have never released a disappointing album. I also give kudos to make an album with all the titles tying into the album cover. Excellent. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?!? Kick ass album!

Side Exhumed:  “Rot your Brain” wasted no fucking time as the song immediately goes into the Holy Shit moment with the guitar riff and then right into the grind blast.  Ferocious and Matt and Ross’ vocal pairing – still some of the best in all of extreme music.  Just growling the song title over the blast is enough for me to start picking up change and doing whirlwind slams right through the front door to the mailbox.  About halfway into the song the band breaks into a killer groove and Mike Hamilton adding some great double bass action.  Nice audible bass guitar work and Sebastian Phillips and Matt going for the dual guitar attack and then some nice soloing action before the grind blast comes right into the mix and Ross’ bass guitar plucking sounding awesome over the blast.  The very audible pinch harmonics cut through the speaker like a laser slicing through your head.  “Buried to Die” has some nice opening drum work then right into the blast with Matt’s scream over the blast – perfect timing.  More monster blasting.  The song is not 3 minutes so the band wastes little time to thrash your body from side to side and cram in a lot of tasty catchy riffs.  The 1.10 grind is brutal bliss – ferocious and the rhythm section is goddamned monstrous on this split.  More guitar soloing – I always have enjoyed Exhumed’s improvement over the years and not straying away from the melody – they know how to write extremely memorable music.  “Dead, Deader, Deadest” is D to the third power and more ferocious blasting – a bunch of chaos as the band is grinding just as fast as their return to form album – the 2019 amazing Horror album.  A short album that was straight up balls to the wall grindcore from beginning to end – album slays.  Anyway, this track gets into a nice groove, where I noticed some Slayer melodies and then right into a vintage 90’s death metal beat that will destroy eardrums worldwide.  More guitar soloing and then right into crushing blasts to end the Exhumed portion.  These 3 Exhumed songs are outstanding.

Side Gruesome: “A Mind Decayed” comes through your speakers and it’s clear from the guitar tone the band is going for the Death Leprosy era on this one.  Robin’s bass is thumping, Gus Rios is sounding great on drums and Daniel Gonzalez alongside Matt Harvey on guitars really captures the Death guitar tone to an upside down T.  Matt sounding more growly on this, a deeper Chuck Schuldiner.  The speed and sound will make you smile from ear to ear and some awesome guitar soloing going on.  The riffing and speed is just fabulous and sounds like Death released Leprosy part II.  “Led into the Dark” is next and the slow down moment sounds like “Left to Die” off the classic Death album, that these Gruesome songs are targeting.  It’s a definite homage – no doubt.  The songs gets into the fast part again and then slows down for a nice melodic guitar solo.  A little bit later the classic “Left to Die” moment comes back with Matt’s growl/scream – almost bringing a tear to my eye how he and the rest of the band harnesses Chuck’s very soul.

Get the Twisted Horror split today.  This showcases Exhumed and Gruesome at their best.  The production is awesome capturing both styles perfectly and this is such a fun listen from two outstanding bands –  with a great album cover to boot. Killer!!

Fifteen tracks of groovy, grinding, gruesome, grotesqueries in twenty-six minutes, Horror doesn’t waste one second screwing around. I guarantee you the album will have you longing for the days of Horrified, Reek of Putrefication, and Ultimo Mondo Cannibale, as well as some classic grindage from the likes of Napalm Death, Terrorizer, and even Unseen Terror. I’m a bit hard-pressed to really label any one track from Horror as a highlight or standout. All fifteen tracks rage earnestly and equally with each other, bringing the heat in spades, as well as damn near all the tracks ranging close to the two minute mark, give or take a little, with the exception of the six-second Napalm Death/“You Suffer” inspired, “Utter Mutilation of Your Corpse”.

Whether it’s from “Unsound” opening the abscess of Horror up with blasts and shrieks, ripping leads, and tandem vocals of grinding death metal excellence that bring a strong Gore Metal feel to everything, only grindier; the strong d-beat and grinding death metal mix of “Slaughter Maniac”, the call and response verses and fast paced thrashings of “Scream Out in Fright”, replete with a Tom Araya like banshee scream to close the track out, or the ripping death assault of “Rabid”, and its classic, yet fresh, vibe of Gore Metal era retro-ness, Horror delivers one hell of a grinding good time. In fact, a lot of Horror recalls that ’98-2000 Gore Metal/Slaughtercult era of Exhumed, only with a much more direct grindcore element to the material, resulting in a quick, ripping and raucous experience. Coupled with a tasty and prominent sounding production, courtesy of Toxic Holocaust‘s Joel Grind, a cover and album layout that recalls and highlights vibes of an ’80’s VHS horror movie collection, (especially cool for those of us that were around to remember the glory of VHS horror), and a lyrical theme of, you guessed it, horror related topics and/or atrocities i.e. necrophilia, zombies, slashers/homicidal maniacs, plagues of infectous death, torture, fear serum injections, buried alive, and even being turned into dog food upon death, and Horror turns out to be quite a fun little basher of an album that captures the spirit of grindcore death metal perfectly. On a brief sidenote, I especially dig the Scream Bloody Gore inspired lyrics of “Ripping Death”.

Whatever the reasoning behind the idea of Exhumed releasing a grind(y) album, whether  it was a way to help cleanse the palate for future releases, paying respects to the elder grindsters in a homage type of presentation, or simply the fact that Ross Sewage’s vocals were made to fucking grind, I’m glad for it. In fact, I’m actually elated for it. While the release of a new album was wholly unexpected by me personally, Horror, and its infectious, grinding death metal madness, is vastly appreciated. Not only is the album exactly the kind of release that Exhumed could easily afford to do at this point in their career, more importantly, Horror is honestly, the kind of album that the band needed to do for their career.

Exhumed have embarked on a creative hot streak since returning from their hiatus, culminating in last year’s brilliant Necrocracy album; arguably their finest effort yet.  Here they keep the creative juices flowing with a couple of new tracks that take a more stripped back and straight forward songwriting approach, with hints of their earlier roots.  The riffs are raw and punchy; the dual vocal trade-offs typically sharp and catchy; while in traditional Exhumed style they jam memorable hooks up front without dumbing down the more acidic, brutal elements of their sound.

“Gravewalker” features a punked-up main riff circled by a sing-along chorus and killer vocal harmonising between Rob Babcock’s low growls and Matt Harvey’s biting higher register.  “Dead to the World” is equally infectious but a tad more vicious in its execution. Both songs are steeped in dependable Exhumed quality, without exceeding the slick songwriting and sharp melodics of the Necrocracy material.  They tear through fun covers of Minor Threat (“Seeing Red”) and Negative Approach (“Ready to Fight”) before handing the baton over to Iron Reagan.

Virginia’s Iron Reagan are a relatively new act, featuring members of Municipal Waste in their ranks. Last year they dropped their full-length debut and whilst their cross breeding of hardcore punk and thrash metal operates outside my usual tastes, it’s easy to get caught in the upswing of their incredibly energetic and manic delivery.  Ripping through four tracks in less than five minutes, Iron Reagan’s punky attitude and drunken swagger is complemented by tight musicianship and an ample supply of killer riffs and shout along choruses.  With song titles like “Holy Water Makes Me Wet” and “Gave Up on Giving a Fuck” you can tell the band don’t take themselves too seriously, while musically the playing is tight, fast and furious, as raging bursts of speed are undercut with catchy mid-paced segments, where the catchier riffs step into the limelight.

This is another quality split release and worthy investment for fans of either band, with the differing styles creating a strong contrast. The scant length and quality songwriting makes for a fun and catchy ride that demands greater replay value then such a release usually warrants.

With over two decades of gruesome grinding under the belts, you might assume West Coast horror hellions would be ready to slow down.  You’d be deathly wrong.  A true work of sonic repulsion, EXHUMED’s upcoming Necrocacy full-length is he band’s political manifesto for a new dark day. There is no democracy, no equal rights, no freedom of choice — bow down to your one true master: THE SAW!

Among Decibel Magazine’s most anticipated albums of 2013, Necrocacy delivers nine goretorn tracks of prime audio sickness oozing blazing guitars, filth-stricken vocals and obscene drum blasts. Quite possibly their finest hour yet, as the years roll by EXHUMED refuse to mellow. This is a band that stinks like the rotting flesh of a nation waiting for revolution: Vote Necrocracy Party 2013! The follow-up to 2011’s maniacal All Guts, No Glory long player was recorded at Arcane Digital Recording in Chandler, Arizona with Ryan Butler (Misery Index, Landmine Marathon, Phobia). All drums were tracked at Trench Studios in Corona, California with John Haddad (Hirax, Abysmal Dawn, Intronaut). Audio obliteration will be had.

Comments Matt Harvey, he of the decrepit death rattle and repugnant requiems: “We’re super pumped that 2013 will see the release of Necrocracy. We think it’s our heaviest record to date and we can’t wait to start playing the new tunes on the road. The album is a bit hookier and meatier than All Guts… and we hope all you maniacs enjoy it. You should find a few more tunes on this one to bang your head and get wasted to! See you on the road or on the slab! Cheerz!”

Check out the Necrocracy trailer:here

Necrocracy will be released via Relapse Records in North America on August 6th, 2013, August 2nd, 2013  in Germany/Benelux and August 5th, 2013 in the UK/world and come available in CD, LP, Deluxe LP and digital formats. The limited edition Necrocracy Party 2013 Political Rally Pack contains a deluxe LP plus a bonus CD with the entire album + five exclusive tracks, a pin set, bumper sticker and poster pack!  Limited to a one time pressing of 500 copies worldwide!

To preorder Necrocracy, point your browser to THIS LOCATION.

Necrocracy Track Listing:

1. Coins Upon The Eyes

2. Dysmorphic

3. (So Passes) The Glory Of Death

4. The Rotting

5. The Shape Of Deaths To Come

6. Necrocracy

7. Sickened

8. Ravening

9. Carrion Call

10. The Rotting

In related news, team EXHUMED, who are in the midst of soiling stages across Europe, will embark upon a mega North American tour this Fall supporting headliners Dying Fetus.  The onstage battery will commence on October 4, 2013 in Wilmington, Delaware and devour nearly a month’s worth of cities, coming to a close on November 2, 2013 in Springfield, Virginia. Additional support will be provided by Devourment, Waking The Cadaver, Abiotic and Rivers Of Nihil. See confirmed dates below.

EXHUMED European Takeover 2013 [remaining dates]:
6/15/2013 Tavernu Du Theatre – La Louvière, Belgium
6/17/2013 Jc Cerberus Hengelo – Hengelo, Netherlands
6/18/2013 Hafenklang – Hamburg, Germany
6/22/2013 Metal Fest Open Air Poland – Jaworzno, Poland
6/23/2013 Kilkim Zaibu – Varniai, Lithuania
7/05/2013 In Flammen Open Air – Torgau, Germany
7/06/2013 Obscene Extreme Afterparty – Trutnov, Czech Republic
7/17/2013 Vlamrock – As, Belgium
7/23/2013 Metal Days – Tolmin, Slovenia
7/24/2013 Garage – Munich, Germany
7/25/2013 Eisenwahn – Obersinn, Germany

EXHUMED

w/ Dying Fetus, Devourment, Waking The Cadaver (10/4 – 10/19), Abiotic,

Rivers Of Nihil (10/26 – 11/2):
10/04/2013 Mojo 13 – Wilmington, DE

10/05/2013 The Soapbox – Wilmington, NC
10/06/2013 Back Booth – Orlando, FL
10/07/2013 The Orpheum – Tampa, FL
10/09/2013 Fitzgerald’s – Houston, TX
10/10/2013 Red 7 – Austin, TX
10/11/2013 Trees – Dallas, TX
10/12/2013 Chameleon Room – Oklahoma City, OK
10/13/2013 Warehouse 21 – Santa Fe, NM
10/14/2013 Rocky Point – Tempe, AZ
10/15/2013 Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
10/16/2013 The Whisky – W. Hollywood, CA
10/17/2013 DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA
10/18/2013 Branx – Portland, OR
10/19/2013 Studio Seven – Seattle, WA
10/20/2013 Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, BC
10/22/2013 Republik – Calgary, AB
10/23/2013 Pawn Shop – Edmonton, AB
10/24/2013 Riddell Centre – Regina, SK
10/25/2013 Park Theater – Winnipeg, MB
10/26/2013 Station-4 – St Paul, MN
10/27/2013 Reggie’s – Chicago, IL
10/29/2013 Peabodys – Cleveland, OH
10/30/2013 Chance Theater – Poughkeepsie, NY
10/31/2013 Palladium – Worcester, MA
11/01/2013 Gramercy Theater – New York, NY
11/02/2013 Empire – Springfield, VA

Most modern death metal strive to be as technical as possible – sweeping better than Cinderella (the fairy tale character, not the ’80s glam metal band of the same name) across the fretboard and tapping like a tap dancer on a high-wire – demonstrate the guitarists’ skills honed in the bedroom woodshop while maintaining as much atonality as possible in order to be more brutal than Dethklok. Exhumed maintain the speed of mid-90s death metal while adding in very memorable and headbanging riffs such as the main one on “As Hammer to Anvil” “Through Cadaver Eyes” or “I Rot Within”.

The blood drenched riffs are complimented by the deep growls and dry rasp of lead guitarist and vocalist Matt Harvey. Rather than sounding separate from the music, Harvey uses his pipes as a fourth instrument. I’m sure the lyrics focus on death and gore in a myriad of ways but their message doesn’t matter as the music delivers the death and decay well enough with the vocals imparting the fatal blow to the skull, ejecting all of the gray matter on the blood stained amps.

Normally such brutal music will get extremely old after several minutes and there are definitely instances where Exhumed don’t let up such as on “Distorted and Twisted to Form” reaching back into their grindcore roots and discharging with atonal and whammy-laden solos lifted from Reign in Blood-era Slayer. “Necrotized” retains the grindcore sensibilities and allows bassist Leon del Muerte (Leon of Death) to be heard in a distorted burst. The relentless and often groovy blood riffs are countered by a respite though melodious leads.

Hearing these soaring solos you’d think that the trio of Exhumed hailed from Sweden rather than California. “Your Funeral, My Feast” demonstrates Harvey’s knack for writing tremendous, melodic solos. They create a nice break before jumping straight back into the murderous fray such as on “Death Knell”.

Despite being around for over 20 years, Exhumed has proven themselves to not fall into irrelevancy by promptly shattering the skulls and eating the intestines of the younger bands through relentless riffs, melodic solos and demonic vocals. They have all the guts and certainly deserve all the glory.