Exhumed, All Guts No Glory
Besides rapid-fire drums and evil as fuck guitars, there was one thing that drew me head first into the death metal wood chipper in my adolescence. Gore. Bloody, freakin’ gore. The gnarlier the album (Butchered At Birth or Acts of the Unspeakable are prime examples) the more I wanted. My thirst for the goriest, most depraved death metal only grew with each album/cassette that I saved up for and purchased with lawn mowing money. That thirst may have been slaked at times, but it’s also a craving that has never truly subsides, even as I’ve gotten older. Very few bands now have that old school, goretastic vibe that I need.
Autopsy certainly helped out with their latest masterpiece, Macabre Eternal, but it’s just one beacon in a sea of mediocrity. Thankfully, another band from my halcyon days is back. Exhumed have dragged their rotting carcasses out of retirement to bring us all the not-so gory, but still awesome as fuck, All Guts No Glory. Toning down the grind in favor of a more thrashing death metal presentation that’s violently punctured by bursts of ferocious blasts, the band unleash holy hell with just their sixth full-length effort in a 20+ year long career.
The opening title track starts off slow, but quickly gets down to business with loads of brain-pummeling drums and thick riffs. The intro track only lasts about a minute and a half, but you’re more than prepared for whats to come after that taste. “As Hammer To Anvil” stomps on the accelerator from the first few seconds and never lets up as layered vocals growl and scream over thick guitars and barbaric drums. But for as awesome of a re-introduction as that track served, it’s nothing compared to the infectiously catchy and gore-fueled “Your Funeral, My Feast.” The third song on the album is massively thick with high/low growls, maniacal drum work and chugging, buzzing guitars that are hell bent on aural destruction.
“Through Cadaver Eyes” sees Exhumed take on a more technical approach to the guitar work throughout the track as grinding blasts erupt all over the place with reckless abandon. “Death Knell,” “Distorted and Twisted to Form,” and “I Rot Within” are chock full of the unrelenting rhythms that the band packs into each track as well as thicker-than-coagulating-blood riffage, not to mention some stellar lead work and vicious vocal deliveries. After the hellish scream that ends “I Rot Within,” the guys let loose with volley after volley of machine-gun blasts and scraping, gurgling vocals that fills the sub-three minute blastfest that is “Dis-assembly Line.”
In the mood for even more destruction? Well, you’re in luck as the last three songs on the album hold nothing back in their delivery of the nasty gore you sick bastards want. “Necrotized” is a bit off the pace from most of the album and has a more airy feel, but is no less evil as hell. “Funereality” starts off with catchy riffs and pile-driving drums (and one hellashish scream) before settling into a chugging, galloping rhythm. The closing track, “So Let it Be Rotten… So Let it Be Done” is a beast of a song. The band know how to wrap up an album, especially one that fans have been itching to hear for so long. Fueled by a grinding mass of blasting drums and buzzing guitars, the vocals are delivered rapid-fire like over ever shifting riffs. The chorus is one that will have you growling along in no time. Just like all the other songs on All Guts No Glory, the finale is packed full of vile, festing death metal that seethes into your brain like necrotic leaches seeking decrepit flesh. Who else could bring it to you other than Exhumed.