Exhumed- Death Revenge
2017 has been quite a year for death metal, particularly older death metal bands. To date, this year has seen new releases from Immolation, Incantation, Obituary, Broken Hope, Origin, Suffocation, and others, with upcoming releases from Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel. And these haven't just been new releases, but good ones, too. Time will tell for the Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel releases, as those are due out in November and December, respectively.
One of the most recent of this batch of death metal is the newest release from one of my favorite death/grind bands, Exhumed, entitled Death Revenge.
Exhumed has been around for quite a long time at this point, starting its career with demos and multiple split releases before moving into full-length releases with the now-classic Gore Metal in 1998. This was followed up by the superb Slaughtercult, then the more mature and melodic Anatomy Is Destiny. After this, the band went on an extended vacation, right on the heels of a cover album, Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated in 2005. The band finally resurfaced with a renewed vigor with 2011's All Guts, No Glory.
Then, on October 13 of this year (Friday the 13th, in case you're wondering), the newest album hit the shelves. Death Revenge is a concept album based on the real-life crimes of William Burke and William Hare in 19th century Scotland. If you are unfamiliar with this pair, they lived during a time in which people often referred to as resurrectionists would dig up recently interred corpses to sell off to doctors for use in anatomy classes. At the time, allowed for corpses of deceased criminals and the like for use in anatomy courses, but the simple fact was that the demand was greater than the supply. So, some enterprising folks would dig up the dead and take them to doctors who would pay for their efforts, knowing better than to inquire at to the corpses' origins.
Burke and Hare decided that this one would be a good way to make some money, but I suppose the digging up the corpses was a bit too much work. They decided it was much more efficient to create the supply through just killing people. Mind you, this started off somewhat innocently with the death of a lodger at Hare's house. Burke and Hare pulled the body from the coffin before it went into the ground and sold it. Things escalated from there, but Burke and Hare were eventually caught.
There is much more to the story, but that is the basic idea and this is what Death Revenge is all about. Exhumed's main man, Matt Harvey, read about the duo and decided it would be excellent material for a death metal album. Well, he is certainly correct.
The first thing that struck me with this album was the cover art, which reminds me of a theatrical poster for some '70s Eurohorror flick-- one that probably features numerous exceptionally attractive women who have no qualms showing their boobs every ten minutes or so, for no other reason than the simple fact that it is highly appreciated by the audience. The cover even has crease marks, like you would find on older posters, when they were shipped out folded, rather than rolled up.
One of the next things that I was rather excited to find out was the fact that this album marks the return of Ross Sewage, who had departed the band after Gore Metal. His vocals on that album were such a great counterpoint to those of Matt Harvey. Other people stepped in after to handle the lower, more guttural vocals, which Ross had previously supplied, each doing a commendable job, but it was just never quite the same as those wonderfully low and gurgly growls Ross belted out. He's back and has apparently not lost his skills, I am happy to say. In fact, my only real gripe regarding Slaughtercult was the low vocals, which were supplied by Mike Beams, who did quite well, even if it wasn't quite the same as having Ross handling them, but they seemed low in the mix, almost being felt more than heard.
However, even though Ross is back in the fold, this is not Gore Metal Part 2. The grindy aspects of Exhumed have diminished over the years, as the band grew more melodic. This is not all that surprising, since this is a band heavily influenced by the legendary Carcass. Unlike Carcass, though, I think Exhumed has managed to balance the melodic elements without losing too much of the aggressive death metal approach. Carcass at one point had essentially become hard rock, just performed by a death metal band.
Exhumed has always had a knack for good, strong riffs, and this has not changed any. This may be a more mature version of Exhumed, but it is still Exhumed, showing that a band can progress without losing its essence.
I am not the biggest fan of melodic death metal, but I don't think Exhumed really falls into that category, being more of a straight-up death metal band with melodic elements. The band has not forsaken the blast beats that have been a major element of the band since the beginning, there just aren't quite as many as in the days when Exhumed shared space on a release with the likes of the ever-enjoyable Hemdale.
I have already listened to this one more than many other albums I have bought in more recent years. This is definitely one of my top albums of the year.
One of the most recent of this batch of death metal is the newest release from one of my favorite death/grind bands, Exhumed, entitled Death Revenge.
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| Death Revenge LP with lyric sheet/poster and Death Revenge CD |
Exhumed has been around for quite a long time at this point, starting its career with demos and multiple split releases before moving into full-length releases with the now-classic Gore Metal in 1998. This was followed up by the superb Slaughtercult, then the more mature and melodic Anatomy Is Destiny. After this, the band went on an extended vacation, right on the heels of a cover album, Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated in 2005. The band finally resurfaced with a renewed vigor with 2011's All Guts, No Glory.
Then, on October 13 of this year (Friday the 13th, in case you're wondering), the newest album hit the shelves. Death Revenge is a concept album based on the real-life crimes of William Burke and William Hare in 19th century Scotland. If you are unfamiliar with this pair, they lived during a time in which people often referred to as resurrectionists would dig up recently interred corpses to sell off to doctors for use in anatomy classes. At the time, allowed for corpses of deceased criminals and the like for use in anatomy courses, but the simple fact was that the demand was greater than the supply. So, some enterprising folks would dig up the dead and take them to doctors who would pay for their efforts, knowing better than to inquire at to the corpses' origins.
Burke and Hare decided that this one would be a good way to make some money, but I suppose the digging up the corpses was a bit too much work. They decided it was much more efficient to create the supply through just killing people. Mind you, this started off somewhat innocently with the death of a lodger at Hare's house. Burke and Hare pulled the body from the coffin before it went into the ground and sold it. Things escalated from there, but Burke and Hare were eventually caught.
There is much more to the story, but that is the basic idea and this is what Death Revenge is all about. Exhumed's main man, Matt Harvey, read about the duo and decided it would be excellent material for a death metal album. Well, he is certainly correct.
The first thing that struck me with this album was the cover art, which reminds me of a theatrical poster for some '70s Eurohorror flick-- one that probably features numerous exceptionally attractive women who have no qualms showing their boobs every ten minutes or so, for no other reason than the simple fact that it is highly appreciated by the audience. The cover even has crease marks, like you would find on older posters, when they were shipped out folded, rather than rolled up.
One of the next things that I was rather excited to find out was the fact that this album marks the return of Ross Sewage, who had departed the band after Gore Metal. His vocals on that album were such a great counterpoint to those of Matt Harvey. Other people stepped in after to handle the lower, more guttural vocals, which Ross had previously supplied, each doing a commendable job, but it was just never quite the same as those wonderfully low and gurgly growls Ross belted out. He's back and has apparently not lost his skills, I am happy to say. In fact, my only real gripe regarding Slaughtercult was the low vocals, which were supplied by Mike Beams, who did quite well, even if it wasn't quite the same as having Ross handling them, but they seemed low in the mix, almost being felt more than heard.
However, even though Ross is back in the fold, this is not Gore Metal Part 2. The grindy aspects of Exhumed have diminished over the years, as the band grew more melodic. This is not all that surprising, since this is a band heavily influenced by the legendary Carcass. Unlike Carcass, though, I think Exhumed has managed to balance the melodic elements without losing too much of the aggressive death metal approach. Carcass at one point had essentially become hard rock, just performed by a death metal band.
Exhumed has always had a knack for good, strong riffs, and this has not changed any. This may be a more mature version of Exhumed, but it is still Exhumed, showing that a band can progress without losing its essence.
I am not the biggest fan of melodic death metal, but I don't think Exhumed really falls into that category, being more of a straight-up death metal band with melodic elements. The band has not forsaken the blast beats that have been a major element of the band since the beginning, there just aren't quite as many as in the days when Exhumed shared space on a release with the likes of the ever-enjoyable Hemdale.
I have already listened to this one more than many other albums I have bought in more recent years. This is definitely one of my top albums of the year.
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