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Sunday Old School: Exhumed

Death metal is notorious for its lyrics which focus on the brutal and at times sickening aspects of life. While many bands are wrongly accused of writing material which relies solely on this area, one band who revelled in such a subject was America’s own, Exhumed. Exhumed were formed in the state of California in 1990 by then fifteen year old, Matt Harvey. They were influenced by some of the more interesting death metal bands of the time such as Carcass and Terrorizer and set out to put their own unique stamp on the branch of extreme music which they loved so much, deciding ultimately that it would be gore they focused on.

They recorded a significant number of demos, split releases and EPs in the early career before eventually signing a record deal with Relapse, a label which had become known as the home of the American branch of grindcore, much like Earache was known as in the United Kingdom. They released their first full length album, "Gore Metal" in 1998, which featured an incredibly gruesome front cover and contained a cover of the Sodom song, "Sodomy and Lust" in addition to the twelve original compositions on offer. Although somewhat sloppy by Harvey’s admission, the record was received quite well by the death metal audience and they were soon hitting the road to promote the album.

"Gore Metal" was succeeded in the year 2000 by "Slaughtercult," which Harvey claims is the album where the band were closest to achieving their goals and garnered them some excellent reviews from the metal press, as well as respect for drummer, Col Jones who did not use double bass on the album, yet still churned out a blisteringly fast performance. Exhumed continued to expand their fan base by embarking on three tours across the U.S.A. as well as performing at a number of festivals, including Wacken Open Air in Germany and Obscene Extreme in the Czech Republic.

The band began to experiment with more complex arrangements on their third album, "Anatomy is Destiny," which hit the shelves in 2003. It was more of a death metal album than the deathgrind they had been recording before and continued to impress listeners and the press alike and is now regarded as the most critically acclaimed work from the group. They were dealt a blow soon after releasing the album however when Col Jones decided to quit the band, which impacted them rather severely, causing some members to lose a degree of enthusiasm for the group. After touring as much as possible and releasing a compilation of old material entitled, "Platters of Splatter," the band recorded a covers album entitled, "Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated," which was intended as a hold over for fans who were waiting for a new album of original material. Unfortunately, fans would have to wait considerably longer than expected, as Exhumed were placed on hiatus in 2005.

Five years later however, Harvey decided that the time was right to bring the group back, though the only previous member to join him was guitarist turned bassist, Leon del Muerte. This new incarnation of Exhumed released their fourth album, "All Guts, No Glory" in 2011 to a generally very positive reception. It was regarded by many in the press as something of a return to their earlier days, though not as raw as "Gore Metal."

Though they have gone through some lineup changes since the reformation, the band, spearheaded still by Matt Harvey, continued to perform a number of tours and appear at many festivals before recording another album, "Necrocracy," which was released through Relapse in 2013. Again, while it didn’t impress every publication, it was rather warmly received by the metal press, who were interested in the slightly slower material on display and shift in lyrical themes which had become more political than the blood and guts orgies of past releases.

The plan for Exhumed now seems to be on live shows, with a European tour scheduled for this November where the band will join forces with Belgian act, Aborted and fellow Americans, Origin. Where Exhumed will go from here in terms of music remains to be seen, as they could conceivably continue to experiment with slower tempos and politics, or return to ferocious, blood soaked frenzies. Whatever the case, it’s great to have these extreme gore peddlers (dis)gracing the stage and ear drums once again.

Exhumed - "Casket Crusher"

Exhumed - "A Lesson In Pathology"

Exhumed - "The Matter of Splatter"

Exhumed - "Coins Upon the Eyes"