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EXHUMED
To The Dead

Relapse (2022)
Rating: 8/10

It seems only right that the latest full-length slab of festering death metal from California’s Exhumed should emerge just days before Halloween, and as expected it’s the usual fright-fest of rancid, rabid and rampant metal.

Exhumed is not a band to veer from its path, and like an out of control ambulance careered by its zombie driver these guys lay waist to the neighbourhood and leave a trail of bloodied and battered corpses in their wake, all the while other victims are flayed by impressive, dank leads, barking outbursts of gore and rattling percussion that’s as effective as a garbage can of bones thrown from the top floor of an apartment block onto a passing pedestrian.

Exhumed has always been a savage beast; foul-mouthed and clotted by its own congealed entrails whereby the listener is swamped by the thrashing vim of the guitar sound which, for the next passage of pus-filled noise, can lurch into a foul trudge as evidenced on ‘Drained Of Color’ or the despicable rant of the infected ‘Undertaking The Overkilled’ where the bass hits like a hammer to the skull.

There are no real surprises with Exhumed. The vocals remain unhinged barks, but it is that lethal mix of faster, splattery dynamics and occasional slower death / grind chokes which will appeal time and time again.

‘No Headstone Unturned’ slurps and kicks licks like a corpse re-animated where again there’s that killer groove as Carcass and Repulsion are channelled in fetid manner before the speedy outbursts take over and the bloody foam begins to rise. Meanwhile, ‘Carbonized’ has a feeling akin to having your head flushed down the toilet as the torrent of shit, piss and waste fills your mouth, nostrils and ears, and ‘Lurid, Shocking, And Vile’ continues the putrid clanking as the guys ramp up the speed and bash your brains in with their trash can lids.

To The Dead is another frenzied assault rounded off with a brace of hideous creations in the form of ‘Defecated’ and ‘Disgusted’, both pulverising slaps born from rabid riffs and demented percussion, battering you to a pulp so as to allow you to leak back into the sewers from whence you came.

Neil Arnold

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