S
OMETIMES THEY COME BACK. LEGENDARY DEATH METAL BANDS SUCH AS AUTOPSY, AT THE GATES AND CARCASS DID, AND THEY’VE ALL TOURED CLASSIC MATERIAL TO GREAT ACCLAIM. NOW GOREGRIND GODS EXHUMED HAVE LURCHED BACK TO LIFE TOO, BUT THEY’RE NOT RESTING ON THEIR LAURELS.
Inspired after seeing aforementioned seminal British grind innovators
Carcass – the first band to set medical dictionaries to music – lead vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey formed Exhumed in 1991 at the tender age of fifteen. The band played shows but recorded only a small number of demos and splits (so its members could finish their educations) before releasing their aptly titled debut full-length Gore Metal in 1998. Slaughtercult followed in 2000, and Anatomy is Des- tiny in 2003. But by 2005, Harvey was ground down by the business of running a band and put Exhumed on ice. “I was really burnt on the whole thing,” he explains. “So
many different lineup changes, and it kind of seemed like we were still basically in the same place we were after the first record. I got away as far as I could. I actually ended up living in Hawaii for a year and a half.” After becoming dissatisfied with life in the Aloha State, Har-
vey made plans to return to California in 2010 and reconnected with the last incarnation of the group – second guitarist Wes Caley, bassist and low vocalist Leon del Muerte and drummer Danny Walker. Songs came together quickly though texts and emails, and by the time Harvey returned to the mainland they were ready to record a new album. “It was almost like peeling the scab off a wound,” jokes Harvey. “Once we started
going, we just kept coming out with more and more shit. We had 22 songs in the space of five months. The vibe was really good, it felt natural.” Let it be known, there is no dust on Exhumed. Listening to All Guts, No Glory
(released last month on Relapse Records), it’s hard to believe the band was ever gone. A logical progression from Anatomy is Destiny, the new album is arguably the group’s finest work to date; it blasts as furiously as anything they’ve recorded and is full to bursting with catchy, high-velocity riffs, dual lead work and right- eous shredding.
“We tried to make the songs a little bit leaner than the ones on Anatomy, cutting
the excessive arrangements and lyrics but still retaining the melodic stuff,” says Harvey. “Wes and I are both firmly rooted in the rock school. I’m totally into [Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist] Ritchie Blackmore, he’s totally into Van Halen, and we’re both huge Thin Lizzy fans, so that’s going to come out.” The lyrics and imagery associated with Exhumed have always
been darker than those influences would suggest, however; opt- ing for a tongue-in-cheek, splatter movie sensibility. The cover of All Guts – featuring the band members in makeup by effects artist Caleb Schneider (The Walking Dead) – and new tracks such as “Your Funeral, My Feast,” “Dis-assembly Line,” and “So Let it Be Rotten… So Let it Be Done” certainly continue that tradition, but Harvey has a confession to make: he’s not a rabid horror fan. “It’s kind of funny – when I was younger, I definitely was. And
I still love the classics, but horror movies aren’t something I seek out these days,” he admits. “The Gates of Hell, Dead Alive, Evil Dead II – the ’80s stuff is the horror I like. I still dig Re-Animator, Phantasm and all that stuff, but I don’t track down new horror
movies. It’s ironic, because writing gory lyrics is a bit more challenging now than it was when I was nineteen or twenty!” Living up to the album title, Relapse is giving All Guts, No Glory a big push. In addition
to the CD release, the label has issued a mail-order exclusive two-disc set containing bonus tracks, and a double vinyl fold-out with red-coloured records shaped like saw blades. With mini-tours booked for the rest of the summer in the US, Mexico and Canada, and select festival dates in Europe, Harvey has one ambition. “We just want to play some shows and have fun,” he insists. “The goals that we
had before are part of the reason why we stopped playing. I just want to enjoy it – keep it fun, keep it loose. As long as people are going to keep offering us decent money to come to their town, we’re going to keep doing it.”
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