Exhumed
Necrocracy

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[colored_box color=”grey”]Rating: 8.5
Label: Relapse Records
Website: Link
Author: John Savvidis[/colored_box]

The band returns 2 years after that with “Necrocracy”, kicking in with “Coins Upon The Eyes” blasting through our ears death metal style, then grooving in the verses and balancing between groove and Thrashing tempo including a blasting chorus and a bass break before any verse, making the sound heavier. Also we have a prime example of awesome lead guitar work on this record, since the solos are shredding, melodic, yet spot on and never out of place. I was personally reminded of “Heartwork” by Carcass solowise. “The Shape Of Deaths To Come” starts mid-tempo thrashing, with the high pitched death/grind vocals showing some adjustment to the sound of today, without being cheesy or annoying. Then groove comes in (playing a big part in their sound), before things speed up during the chorus including great soloing and some middle eastern riffing.

Headbanging death metal riffage leads us to the title track, to slow things down and keep us headbanging reminding of Exodus drumwise and some melodic Death metal riffing in the chorus before blasting right after the second chorus followed by another great melodic solo and a dual harmony At The Gates style. A drum roll and a guitar lead bring us “Dysmorphic“, being one of the grooviest tracks of the album with a really addictive chorus made for headbanging and once more: great guitar solos. “Sickened” comes up next to be one of the most killer songs on the record for live shows causing giant circle pits in every venue they’ll play balancing between pure Thrashing violence and blasting in the verses.

What comes next is another kick ass drum intro keeping up the speed from the previous track on “(So Passes) The Glory Of Death” making these two an absolutely destructive duo when played back to back live. “Ravening” comes up next to show more melodic death influences in the chorus, being as aggressive as the previous ones, yet with some eerie chords in the middle before the solo and a Doomish intro. “The Carrion Call” comes up next with its catchy technical chorus and the rest of it balancing between groove and thrash tempo/blasting showing more groove in the third chorus right before and after the solo. “The Rotting” is another fast track starting off in a groovy way then into a Thrash tempo with a bit more groove in the verses and for the last time on the record great guitar solos. Exhumed showed that they know how to make a really great Death/Grind album that has an old school character yet can easily fit in the sound of today due to a mature production. Cheers!