Exhumed Red Asphalt Review
Exhumed
Red Asphalt
Relapse Records
2026
For those of you who are unfamiliar with extreme metal journeyman Matt Harvey, let’s give you some background. He formed the death metal/grindcore band Exhumed (whose new splatter platter we will be discussing shortly) in 1990 as guitarist/vocalist, where he remains today. In addition to them, he also fronts the very Death (the band)-inspired throwback unit Gruesome, Left To Die (a legitimate Death tribute band), Expulsion, and the more traditional metal-flavored Pounder, and those are only his most well-known acts. Forever ensuring he would never sleep, one look at the guy’s list of bands since 1990 reads like a CVS receipt. Now 50, he shows no signs of slowing with the brand-new gore metal full-length from his mangled baby Exhumed and the ten-song Red Asphalt.
Exhumed fall firmly in the “old school” space of things, but their sound is an amalgam of the finest of vintages. Think Repulsion, Autopsy, Aborted, Dying Fetus, etc. While they may have those influences either directly or indirectly, somehow Exhumed manage to toss them into a meat grinder and come out with a discerning and well-seasoned mince that never sounds forced or carbon copied. Joining Harvey on these ten tales of (if the song titles are any indication) vehicular horrors are longtime cohorts Ross Sewage (bass/vocals), Sebastian Philips (guitar), and Mike Hamilton on drums. The mix is fitting of the genre in so much that it's loud, in-your-face, and straddles the line between cruelly raw and polished just enough. Don't read that as these West Coast cretins becoming commercial; nay, they are still going straight for the jugular. These songs are still high-octane, speedy death/grind with a barrage of riffs, brutality, and some dangerous twists and turns.
Opener “Unsafe At Any Speed” pummels and blasts its way through a scant three-plus minutes. The ferocity doesn't stop for the next (title) song, “Red Asphalt”, which begins with some minor harmonized guitars and grimy bass before they settle into a galloping double-bass groove, dialing back the speed but doubling down on the chugging, a breakdown, and more blast-beaten insanity wrapped up with, dare I say, a catchy chorus. “Shock Trauma” follows with busy riffing, interplay between higher and lower growls, searing leads, and a melodic midsection. “Shovelhead” begins with a dirgy, Carcass-inspired verse, replete with more double-bass licks, mid-tempo groove, fantastic harmony guitars, and searing leads. We are only in for 2:55 here, and I could've absolutely enjoyed another 30–45 seconds. Settling into some somewhat slower pacing, “Iron Graveyard” and the mastodon-heavy “Crawling From the Wreckage” are next, and the blasts on the latter take things up a notch between crushing chromatic riffing and, once again, great lead guitar work. I feel this is one area of strength Exhumed has over MANY playing similar stuff: absolutely technically proficient and shredding soloing that serves the songs and never become a wankfest. A prime example is the tasteful lines found in “Signal Thirty”. “Death on Four Wheels” taps into some thrashy guitar and drum interplay before falling headlong into more bludgeoning grind. “Symphorophilia” grinds us to dust in under two minutes. Finally, “The Fumes” is perhaps the purest death metal cut here, as it plods away with a decidedly Swedish d-beat. Definitely a STRONG way to close this whole thing out.
For a band that has been active since 1990 (off and on), Exhumed sound energized and vital here. They aren't repeating the same albums over and over. Through the years, they've taken us on sonic journeys through VHS horror shelves from our youth, graveyards and operating theaters of 19th-century Scotland, their very own band history, to now the unforgiving and kill-or-be-killed mindset of America’s roadways. Red Asphalt is a sleazy, whiplash-inducing slab of tongue-in-cheek, yet monolithically heavy, blood-soaked Americana by way of gore, death metal, and grindcore. Buckle up and join these freaks on Route 666!
RIYL: Carcass, Repulsion, Autopsy, Hemdale, Impaled
~TB