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FULCI
Exhumed Information

Time To Kill (2021)
Rating: 6.5/10

Horror-obsessed goremongers Fulci (named after late film director Lucio Fulci) have returned with another slab of death metal. Exhumed Information is the third opus from the Italian trio, a record which features a handful of instrumentals which I find odd, because us death metal fans just love a grisly vocal bellow.

‘Voices’ is a prime example of that sinister, mouldy death metal noise we all love as mid-paced juggernaut morbidity entwines with harder, faster segments of bristling brutality and stark melancholy, particularly with the effective smouldering guitar work.

‘Nightmare’ opens with rough riff and clank, the sort of dirty chime that sticks in the throat like rusty phlegm. Fiore’s vocals are the standard grime-coated chest coughs, but they work so well alongside the gaining pace of gritty riffs. That steady rhythm just gets me every time as Fulci brings a gloomy atmosphere to their stench, and it’s hard not to be bogged down by that killer, peat-bog musicianship as the band brings so many unhealthy doses of groove-reliant pounding.

Okay, so at times one can tell that the beats are programmed, and the clicky nature can irritate, but Fulci does offer so much more. The likes of ‘Evil’ – a rampant, pungent bone breaker – and ‘Funeral’ – a rabid expression of filth – are however mere precursors to what becomes essentially homage to 80s horror soundtracks of the Giallo variety.

Instrumentals ‘Glass’, ‘Child’, ‘Fantasma’ and ‘Cemetery’ bring to mind my Enoch album Graveyard Disturbances (2004), which was the creation of Necrophagia’s Killjoy and Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima. So essentially, the second half of this relatively short 30-minute record is a collaboration with electro / soundtrack project TV-Crimes, providing synthesizer eeriness and brooding dark wave dripping with that creaky quality and evoking images of Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento movies.

Death metal fanatics may be disappointed that the actual death metal tracks are quite short and only run for a total duration of 15 minutes. But if, like me, you like dark, atmospheric horror scores then you’ll appreciate the second half of this platter.

How anyone can say this is a full-length album though is beyond me, as this has the feel and length of an EP, so I hope the band does return soon with an actual full-length of grinding, foul death metal.

The moodiness and eeriness of those instrumentals is complimented by the excellent cover art too. Now, where’s my old VHS recorder?

Neil Arnold

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