Exhumed are a death metal band from the US and this is their eighth album.
I like Exhumed a great deal, and have enjoyed seeing their sound progress, (Death Revenge), then regress, (Horror), over the years, all very enjoyably. New album To the Dead offers 39 minutes of bloodsoaked material in a somewhat similar fashion to their 2020 split with Gruesome. On To the Dead Exhumed deliver a gory feast made up of all of their various incarnations over the decades, albeit with an emphasis on their earlier Gore Metal/Slaughtercult-era sound.
The songwriting on To the Dead is what you would want and expect from Exhumed – a mix of savagery and catchiness. This is pure Carcass-worship in the best of ways, filtered through the gore-encrusted lens of Exhumed’s tried-and-tested vision for death metal carnage. Exhumed know their way around death metal’s foul corpse, and this new album is simply another entertaining collection of mouldy tunes to add to their impressive discography.
The classic sound of Exhumed is great to hear, and the quality of the songs backs up the band’s creative choices. These songs are meat-packed full of putrid riffs, virulent blast beats, and more memorable moments than most death metal acts can claim in a lifetime. This is old-school brutality that’s both infectious and fun. Each track is highly enjoyable and has its own standout moments. To the Dead is a just an album that consistently delivers the macabre goods.
If rotting death metal with lashings of festering grindcore hits the spot for you, then To the Dead is great fun.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 