Over the past twelve months, I’ve been thinking a lot about death, due to the untimely passing of several friends and loved ones. You’d think that the last thing I’d want to do is listen to death metal, let alone go to a death metal show. But you see, I never thought of death metal as music that makes light of, pokes fun at, or otherwise devalues death. On the contrary, death metal (at least the good stuff) is a celebration of life, a potent cultural reminder of our own mortality, that life is often too short and should therefore be lived to the fullest. I can’t think of many things in life more exhilarating than blastbeats, heavy riffs and careening guitar solos. So going to a death metal show is exactly what I did when the recently re-animated California gore lords known as Exhumed brought their patented brand of musical malpractice to my home town.
My wife and I arrived at the Vaudeville just as the first of the opening bands was finishing up their set (why do venues/bookers insist on cramming so many bands onto these bills?) and it was already sweltering, the pitiful excuse for an A/C unable to keep up with the heat-advisory level temperatures we’ve had here in the sweaty asshole of the Midwest of late. During what is apparently to be one of the final sets from local death/grind stalwarts Black Market Fetus, I had the pleasure of meeting Exhumed mastermind Matt Harvey, who is an old acquaintance of my wife’s. It’s always great when a musician you admire turns out to be a genuinely nice guy as well, and Harvey was one of the most friendly and down-to-earth I’ve encountered during my years doing this metal thing.
When Exhumed finally hit the stage however, Harvey was all business, leading the rejuvenated band in storming through a career-spanning set. Having long-since surpassed their origins as Carcass-worshippers, Exhumed are a death metal force to be reckoned with, as evidenced by the pure ferocity and precision with which they attacked their instruments, in spite of the oppressive heat that threatened to sap the show of its energy. The band showed no signs of faltering under the brutal conditions, and the crowd responded in kind, whipping up some serious (at least by Iowa standards) pit action for much of the set.
Of course, professionalism will only get you so far in death metal. If you really want to stand out from the pack and get the heads banging, fists pumping and beers pounding, you’ve got to have songs. Exhumed has always had them, and this night they deployed some of the gnarliest hooks in all of death metal. Tracks from the band’s back catalogue, such as “The Matter of Splatter” “Decrepit Crescendo” and “Necromaniac” are as catchy and fun as they are overwhelmingly brutal. Exhumed also unleashed a battery of songs from All Guts, No Glory (their first album in eight years, not counting covers collection Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated), with “As Hammer to Anvil” and “Through Cadaver Eyes” demonstrating an even more refined songwriting approach. Call it murderous yet memorable, call it stadium rock for flesh eating zombies or just call it gore fucking metal, as was emblazoned on the backs of the band’s guitars.
Speaking of guitars, the six-string work of Harvey and Wes Caley (ex-Uphill Battle, Fatalist) was in stellar form throughout Exhumed’s set. Caley treated the crowd to an extended solo in between songs, proving that it’s possible to play your ass off without degenerating into the ludicrous tech-death wankery that plagues today’s DM scene. Caley and Harvey traded off on lead and rhythm while laying waste to the stage, slicing through the mix with a blitzkrieg of bent strings, punishing riffage and whammy bar abuse. The band as a whole was incredibly tight, but as a (painfully mediocre) guitarist myself, it was a pleasure watching these two demonstrate such a high level of axe-mastery.
As the band blasted through the remainder of their set with reckless abandon, the intensity never waned and I found myself totally lost in the sonic bloodbath, throwing up the horns and headbanging to the point of exhaustion. By the time Exhumed concluded the evening in a barrage of distorted cacophony, I was dog tired and sweating bullets (and that was just from being in balcony, I can’t imagine what it was like on the floor or on stage), but extremely satisfied. Some death metal was exactly what I needed to feel alive. Exhumed delivered and then some.
Exhumed 2011 North American Tour (remaining dates)
Jul. 25 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave Bar
Jul. 26 – St Paul, MN – Station 4
Jul. 27 – Winnipeg, MB – The Royal Albert Arms
Jul. 28 – Regina, SK – The Exchange
Jul. 29 – Edmonton, AB – Pawn Shop
Jul. 30 – Calgary, AB – The Distillery
Jul. 31 – Kelowna, BC – Sapphire Nightclub
Aug. 01 – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theater
Aug. 02 – Seattle, WA – Studio Seven
Aug. 03 – Portland, OR – Branx
Aug. 04 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
Aug. 05 – Sparks, NV – The Alley
Aug. 06 – Las Vegas, NV – The Cheyenne Saloon
Aug. 07 – Hollywood, CA – Key Club
THKD 