PHOTO BY ALAN SNODGRASS
INTERVIEW WITH GUITARIST/VOCALIST MATT HARVEY BY TOM CRANDLE
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xhumed are the undisputed masters of all things horror, death metal, and grind. On Oct. 4, they unleashed their newest slab of gore, simply titled Horror, on Relapse Records. It’s the bands ninth full length, and comes on the heels of 2017’s Death Revenge. Since 2011, Exhumed have been cranking out an album every two years. As impressive as that is, it really only tells half the story. Exhumed founder, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Matt Harvey is a really busy guy.Â
half kids and a house in the suburbs. But at the same time, I never really put any effort into doing anything else, and I can't imagine anything I'd rather be doing. I get burnt out sometimes, mostly from the non-music side of doing things. Filling out Excel spreadsheets and making tour budgets is not my idea of a good time, but I recognize that doing things the right way enables us to make more records and play more shows, which is my idea of a good time, so it's a bit of a trade-off.�
He’s in no less than three active bands. In addition to Exhumed, there’s the more traditional metal of Pounder, as well as Gruesome, the band writing new material devoted to continuing the legacy of Chuck Schuldiner and Death. There are usually various other projects happening too, but it all started with Exhumed. Harvey founded the band way back in 1990, when he was only 15.Â
When the time came to make Horror, Harvey looked for musical inspiration in familiar places. “This record is more like the kind of death metal that I get excited to listen to as a fan, and Death Revenge was more the kind of death metal that's exciting to me as a guitar player,� he explains. “This one leans into the Repulsion, Slaughter, Exodus, Sacrifice, Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Extreme Noise Terror kind of vein. Just mean and nasty shit that is really in-your-face. No subtlety and no fucks given.�
“I really didn't think it would last this long,� he says. “I assumed that at some point, I'd have two-and-a-
30 NEW NOISE
The lyrical inspiration was also a return to his roots. “We did a current-events record a few years ago with Necrocracy. The situation is so much worse now, and I honestly considered returning to that kind of stuff, but I feel like so much time and energy is sucked up with the insanity of current events. I didn't want to give Trump and his asshole friends my energy.� Harvey continues, “I wanted to recapture the fun I used to have watching gory movies and drinking Meister Brau with my buddies in the earlyand mid-’90s, when all I cared about was metal, horror, beer, and maybe someday getting a girlfriend. There's nods to loads of the movies we were into. Even the bad ones! I just wanted to write lyrics and not give a fuck.� Harvey has a healthy perspective on the relationship between horror and heavy metal. “Horror and metal go together because they tap into a similar set of stimuli,� he opines. “Stuff that's dark and forbidden, and can act as a catharsis for those negative emotions that mainstream society
has been denying or suppressing for years - like anger, hatred, rage, sadness, loneliness and misanthropy. Metal and horror let you express those emotions in a constructive way, so you're able to let go of them and go about the rest of your life being a good person. And they both have thriving fan cultures in which you can transmute those negative emotions into positive ones by bonding with others who feel the same about this specific art form and what it offers.â€? Despite Exhumed’s success, influence, and cult status in extreme metal, Harvey is far from complacent. “Through whatever combination of skill, luck and determination, we've managed to carve out our own niche in the underground, which is well beyond anything I could have imagined when I was 14 sitting in my bedroom playing along with my Spiritual Healing cassette.â€? He concludes, “I'm very grateful we get to keep doing this and that people seem to like it, but I don't want to just sit reminiscing about the glory days. I wanna go out and make some more glory days right fucking now.â€? đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł đ&#x;’Ł
