Six Feet Under Unburied Reissue Review
Six Feet Under
Unburied Reissue/Remaster
Brutal Planet Records
2026
In February, Brutal Planet Records will be cracking open another chapter of SFU lore, and this time it’s one of the band’s most elusive curios finally crawling out of the dirt. “Unburied” has long existed as one of those releases you heard about more than saw. Originally tucked away in a flimsy cardboard sleeve and hidden in random locations like some kind of Death Metal scavenger hunt, the only way I managed to land a copy was by buying the “Nightmares Of The Decomposed” CD box set. It later got a blink-and-you-missed-it vinyl run via Night Of The Vinyl Dead Records. Now, for the first time, there will be proper, legit CD and vinyl pressings available for normal humans. That alone makes this reissue worth talking about.
For the uninitiated, “Unburied” is a collection of leftover tracks pulled from the “Undead,” “Unborn,” and “Torment” sessions. As a longtime SFU devotee, this is absolutely a required piece of the puzzle, but let’s not pretend this is peak-era Six Feet Under. Most of the hardcore fanbase will tell you the same thing. The talent is unquestionably there, but once Greg Gall and Terry Butler exited, the band’s signature Death N’ Roll swagger went with them. What remains here is SFU at their meanest, most technical, and at times most clinical.
And sure, for some fans that technical edge is the whole selling point. For me? Not so much. I’m still firmly planted in the school of thought that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I miss the groove. I miss the filth that felt like it was swinging instead of slicing. And it doesn’t help that several of these tracks feel exactly like what they are - leftovers. Not bad songs, but unfinished, undercooked, or lacking that final push that would’ve elevated them beyond bonus material.
The remastering job is solid enough, but it’s working with limited raw material. These recordings weren’t stellar to begin with, and no amount of polish is going to magically conjure drum and bass presence that was never fully there. Still, for the diehards - and this release is very much for the diehards - there’s plenty of meat left on the bone.
Despite my reservations, I’ll absolutely be grabbing the vinyl. It’s a necessity, not a question. Tracks like “Midnight In Hell,” “The Perverse,” and “Possessed” still hit hard and stand as strong reminders of what Barnes and this incarnation of SFU were capable of when everything clicked. “Unburied” may not be essential listening for the casual fan, but for collectors and longtime followers, this reissue finally gives this underground oddity the proper burial and resurrection it deserves.