EXHUMED

Naturally, death metal and extreme music have branched out considerably since EXHUMED's infamous 1998 Relapse Records debut full-length, "Gore Metal". Tech death has reached dizzying heights, and on the opposite end, INCANTATION and IMMOLATION-worshipping bands — stylized as "cavernous" death metal, at times — and war metal have become even more raw and primitive, to reference but a few strands of the stratification. EXHUMED will forever be known for their early goregrind before morphing and growing into a monstrous death metal and grindcore hybrid. The legendary "gore metal" maniacs return now with their tenth album, "Red Asphalt", a 10-song barnburner that's explosive and vibrant front to back. The album is an absolute freight train that finds EXHUMED flexing its might with adept musicianship and an unhinged primal spirit.

Aside from their five-year hiatus between 2005 and 2010, the California-based quartet has been hacking and slicing away since 1990. Rather than repeating itself ad nauseam, Matt Harvey and company have grown considerably over time, incorporating elements from his other projects like the DEATH-obsessed tribute GRUESOME.

"Red Asphalt" is a collection of horrific tales based upon something that everyone faces in everyday life, the reality of driving or traveling on the road. It's easy to envision vehicle wrecks or vehicular homicide, the blood and guts involved with defective cars, according to Harvey, or things like gore-filled instructional videos and zombified biker gangs. With this album, EXHUMED creates the ultimate soundtrack to the horrors of the roadway. There's a campy aspect, to be sure, but it doesn't sound goofy at all. That's because the musical violence is simply overwhelming.

There is vitality and rage throughout "Red Asphalt". Generally speaking, the release finds the band shifting between moments of menacing and lurching death metal, mid-tempo frenzy and full-tilt grind. EXHUMED bursts out of the gates with the aptly named "Unsafe At Any Speed" (nod here to Ralph Nader and the Chevy Corvair),which harks back to their early deathgrind days, think GENERAL SURGERY, merged with their more recent leanings, intentional or not, toward violent melodic DEATH-inspired death metal or "Heartwork"-era CARCASS. One could say it's a blend of early CARCASS alongside that band's aforementioned melodious landmark "Heartwork", all filtered through EXHUMED's singular vision.

"Shovelhead" is built upon a strong snail-paced groove and repetitive riff that will be difficult to scrape out of one's grey matter. Elsewhere, "Crawling From The Wreckage" moves forward similarly with an evil surge and cocky attitude that drives its infectious and memorable chorus. Album closer "The Fumes", meanwhile, strikes with violent percussive stabs that sandwich pit-friendly thrashing madness before the song dramatically concludes with a fiery melodic guitar solo, gurgling sounds that one would imagine to be someone spitting out their last breath, as well as tasteful drum rolls courtesy of Mike Hamilton.

Given enough attention, "Red Asphalt" could be regarded amongst the band's best efforts like "Gore Metal" and 2000's "Slaughtercult". However it will ultimately be perceived down the road, it is most definitely on par with those releases in terms of unforgettable songwriting, pulling from the goregrind of that era while also breathing new life into its corpse. "Red Asphalt" harnesses the wild energy of those releases along with EXHUMED's profound musical growth that's subtly and not-so-subtly embedded, essentially marrying musical maturity and growth with the burly rawness that the unit has been known for since its inception.