Exhumed – Gore Metal: A Necrospective 1998-2015
Sunday, 8th February 2015
Oh the nostalgia, listening to Gore Metal once again brings back some memories of a simpler time. Before the time of trying to dissect things down to the current 500 different subgenres that we all hold dear, Gore Metal was a slab of death metal with some heavy Carcass tones. While it seemed to go over well with the public, the band has stated that one of the biggest faults of the album was it’s production. Well, 17 years later they’ve fixed that problem as well as showcasing how to effectively re-issue an album without giving the airs of being a money-grab.
Gore Metal worked back in the ’90s because it was a fun and lively piece of death metal, and it holds up surprisingly well here in 2015. The production works wonders here, and it’s clear that Exhumed wanted to rectify all of the sound issues from 1998 (hey, it was the ’90s after all). Gore Metal Redux sounds wicked! Without resorting to squeaky-clean, super-polished sounds, it does capture the essence of Exhumed. To the un-initiated, one could easily be fooled into believing that this was a original new album. As far as the album itself goes, it still has a certain charm to it, regardless of production. Fast and furious tracks like “Necromaniac,” and “Casket Crusher” fit nicely beside more groovy numbers such as “In My Human Slaughter House,” “Enucleation,” and the fun chainsaw break in “Limb from Limb.” Sure, it’s heavy on the Carcass influence but it was brought into such a fun and twisted direction, it’s hard to knock them for it. Besides, this was their first full-length after all.
While Exhumed has made some strides along the way since Gore Metal (such as their last offering, the excellent Necrocracy), this new version is worth hearing, particularly if you owned the original. For those that didn’t, Exhumed has been kind enough to put both versions of the album on this release, so you can truly hear the difference between the two. How’s that for fan service?
