Exhumed - All Guts No Glory
Relapse
Death Metal
11 songs (36:06)
Release year: 2011
Exhumed, Relapse
Reviewed by Charles
Gory death heroes Exhumed are back after a lengthy hiatus; great news, especially for old-schoolers, who will surely give this album the intestinally warm reception it deserves. All Guts No Glory, despite its horrible cover, sees the band at their very best, dripping with abrasive, high-powered riffs evoking (of course) Necroticism…-era Carcass, and given extra muscle by its pumping, rock and roll delivery.

This is arguably a more polished affair than Exhumed’s last full-length (excluding the covers collection), Anatomy is Destiny. The reason for this lies in the production, which doesn’t have the same layer of greasy fuzz in the guitar tone that gave the latter such a dirty, feral character. Instead, No Guts No Glory is a gleaming piece of mangling machinery. But in most other substantive respects, this is pretty similar; another fast album with a poundingly athletic style. Tracks like Like Hammer to Anvil or Necrotized bludgeon the listener with expertly spliced-together riffs, their contorted, spidery character meshing perfectly with Danny Walker’s high-energy drumming. The latter, in particular, drives the album forward with a savage vigour, able to handle relentless double-kick blasting as well as rarer (and often all-too fleeting) moments of joyously infectious groove (for example Through Cadaver Eyes).

The rabid energy of the album is further enhanced by the lead guitars, with high-pitched string-squeals infested nearly every track like maggots in the storeroom of a disreputable takeaway. These leads veer between widdly metal soloing and bluesy rock and roll licks, and their energy goes some way towards making up for what could be seen as a disadvantage of the record: the absence of Mike Beams and Bud Burke’s ghastly backing vocals of previous albums. This is a fairly trifling criticism, though, given the strength of the record as a whole. The band have clearly never shied away from the light-hearted side of metal, and they follow-up their Metallica-prodding naming of their last record (‘Garbage Daze Re-Regurgitated’) with the title of the stupendous closing track, So Let It Be Rotten…. Let It Be Done. This is three minutes of gore-death heaven, with its storming thrash-influenced riffing, maniacal soloing which channels everyone from Trey Azagthoth to Kirk Hammett, and frantic vocals which come together in its inexplicably catchy shout-along choruses. It’s a perfect way to end a brilliant record; one which reaffirms the joys of unpretentious and blood-spattered US death metal.

Killing Songs :
Through Cadaver Eyes, So Let it be Rotten... So Let it be Done
Charles quoted 85 / 100
Other albums by Exhumed that we have reviewed:
Exhumed - Death Revenge reviewed by Andy and quoted 81 / 100
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