EXHUMED – interview with the band

EXHUMED’s sixth full-length sees them tread into ambitious new territory with their first concept album: a musical melodrama in thirteen parts based on shocking true events. Death Revenge takes place in the late 1820s in Edinburgh, Scotland and tells the macabre tale of a series of brutal murders where the victims’ cadavers were sold to anatomists, amid a grisly underground trade of grave-robbery. Recorded with producer Jarrett Pritchard (Goatwhore, Eternal, Gruesome), Death Revenge takes the band’s signature gore-drenched, death metal mayhem to theatrical and ghastly new depths.

Greetings. I’m glad you guys settled down for an Interview. Without further ado. Let’s get this done. First of all How are you guys doing?

Aside from the way the Raider game is going so far today (it’s not looking good at halftime as I type this) I’m doing very well. We’re all excited about getting this record out and getting to do some more gigs to bring it into your neighborhood at maximum volume.

Are you nervous or excited for the Album Release? Do you think Death Range would replace Gore Metal as the best record from you guys?

I don’t know that I’m nervous or excited at this point. We recorded the record in April, and we finished writing the material for it in January of 2016 (not a typo – 2016), so I think I’ve gone through all of those stages already. Right when we got done recording, I thought it was extremely kickass and was gonna set the world on fire. Then, I had a moment a few weeks later, after hearing the final, mastered version of the record where I thought it was really terrible and a huge mistake that should be thrown away and never released, but I stepped back, played the record for some old friends who I count on for objectivity and honesty, and started feeling better about it. At this point, I just am glad it’s going to be released at last and I hope people like it.Ultimately, we just make records for ourselves, but it’s still reassuring when other people like them. And I’d honestly say Gore Metal is our worst record, but I’m biased, hahaha!

How was the recording process for the upcoming record Death Revenge, compared to the previous release Necrocasy?

We changed everything up this time around. We really liked the sound we got on Necrocracy, which was really a continuation of the same studios we’d used on All Guts, No Glory, but we didn’t want to get stuck in a rut of always recording things the same way and in the same studios and stuff. I was really impressed with what Jarrett Pritchard had done with the Gruesome records we had done, and he had always been very kind towards Exhumed, not just personally but in his opinions on our material. We knew that we could get a record that sounded different from our other records and differerent from other stuff out there working with him, and I feel we did. We went for a less “modern” sounding production this time. We used less saturation on the guitars, less triggering and sound replacement on the drums, and less multi-tracking on the vocals as well. So in some ways it’s our most produced and constructed album, and in others, it’s the most stripped-down record we’ve done since Slaughtercult. With Death Revenge it was a bit different, because we had a lot of separate pieces that needed to be created correctly while being done independently from each other – the songs were recorded in Florida, the film-score type elements were produced and arranged in California by Matt Widener, and they had to slide into place seamlessly or the record would have sounded disjointed. The artwork was similar as well, with cover artist Orion Landau in Portland and interior artist Lucas Ruggieri in New York. So it was a case of a lot of moving parts that I had to make sure would be in sync when we put everything together at the end. I think we pretty much succeeded, and it definitely took hard work from everyone involved, not just the band members.

Do you have a personal favourite song from the album, Death Revenge?

I thought “Defenders of the Grave” was the song with the best chorus and overall vibe. But of course, I like all of them.

November marks the start for your tour with Black Dahlia Murder. What are your expectations for it and Of you guys have something special for the fans?

We’re doing 6 shows on the west coast with Black Dahlia and Suffocation, and since we’re joining the tour when it’s already going and playing in the middle of the bill, we’re going to try and play as much new stuff as we can to introduce it to the fans. We’ll be embarking on a headlining tour in mid-November where we’ll have more time onstage to develop the stage show around the new album. There will be some surprises and new shit for sure, as well as some old standbys.

How long do you guys go without washing your clothes on tour?

It depends on the article of clothing. Jeans sometimes go 2 weeks or more. Underwear and socks… may get thrown away and replaced. Laundromats are often pretty inconvenient to get to, or we may have such a long drive from city to city that by the time we get there, there’s no time to do your washing. And some of our band members (not naming any names, but probably our guitarist Bud Burke) are less concerned about clean clothes than others.

Are there any smaller bands that have peaked your interest recently?

I’m a big fan of the new Ruin album, Drowned in Blood, and some newer stuff like VHS, Tombstalker, and Torture Rack are quite good. I’m definitely pumped to hear the new Skeletal Remains when it comes out on Dark Descent Records. The Extremely Fucking Dead record by Extremity was really good as well. But I listen to all kinds of music and am always finding something that piques my interest, often not in the metal genre though.

Who would you personally like to sit down and interview yourself?

James and Lars from Metallica. It would be extreme punishment for them. If not them, then Bruce and Adrian from Maiden. That would also probably be a real drag for them, hahaha!

What’s your take on Crowdfunding? Do you think it’s appropriate to raise money from fans so as write music and alas selling the same to them?

It’s not something I’d feel comfortable doing, but to each their own, I guess. I make music for one person – myself. If other people like it, that’s awesome. If they don’t, that’s fair enough too. I would never be comfortable expecting to get paid for work I haven’t done yet – and that’s basically how I see crowdfunding your album or whatever. I realize that they provide incentives for funding at different contribution levels and stuff, but it’s not for me.

If you could steal credit for any great piece of art, film or an Album which one would you claim?

I’d never want to steal credit for anything anyone else did. I sometimes hear stuff and think “Fuck, I wish I’d thought of that first!” though, haha! If I had a time machine though, I’d definitely go back to 1983 and try to snag that Metallica gig after they fired Mustaine.

“IT” or “Annabelle:Creation”? If neither what’s your favourite horror/thriller movie of this year?

I haven’t seen either, sorry. Although I can’t imagine It being that great unless the story has been fundamentally changed.

How do you handle criticism?

It depends on the criticism. If it’s constructive and coming from a perspective that I respect, I value it very much. If it’s “you suck!” there’s not much opportunity for growth and learning there, haha! I am very open to hearing constructive criticism and try to seek it out whenever and wherever possible. I don’t think I’m anywhere near perfect or infallible and I the reality that I still have lots of things to learn is what makes it interesting. If I didn’t, what would the point be?

If anything is gory than Exhumed. What’ll it be?

Whatever it is, you can bet your ass it’ll be nasty as fuck and I’ll be looking forward to it.

Thank You for sparing some of your valuable time giving us an Interview. On behalf of Metal Centre I wish you all the Very Best for your Album. Cheers!

Cheers! Thanks for the interview and the support. See you on tour!

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