Exhumed and Molested

Shredded Corpse from Arizona, United States of America lay buried six feet under these days. They released two albums, 'Exhumed and Molested' being the debut album, which was released after three demos.

Name of the game is death metal. Sick, heavy and dark death metal. The songtitles should tell that, as well as the cover art. The lyrics deal with many taboos, such as a killer taking a child's life before the eyes of its mother and then molesting the corpse... Not very pleasurable reading, that's for sure! The vocals range from extremely low guttural growl (no pitch shifter used) to more "normal" growling and even some growly whisper.

The music is nothing truly original, but the band have brought some elements to it, which make this sound Shredded Corpse. It is heavily based on different rhythms and catchy riffage. There is no bass, but still this is one heavy album. The guitar melodies and harmonies (and disharmonies!) remind me slightly of Noctuary. I can't think any straight comparisons for Shredded Corpse, though. There's some grindcore bits, too. The guitar sound is very biting, with some ripping heaviness on it.

The music varies quite a lot on this release. First five songs are longer, more sick and have multiple parts. Last three pieces are short, simple songs. 'Nailed Open Hole' happens to be a bloody great song, and it soon became one of my favourite death metal songs ever! I love the rhythm changes the band perform on a couple of songs, and rhythmically there's enough variety for sure, even some doomier stuff ('Death Bring Erection').

The quality of production varies during these 25 minutes. Mostly it is crispy, heavy and organic in a good demo level way, but sometimes lacks of power and punch (remember: no bass on the album). The playing is good, but blastbeats are a bit sloppy.

Even though both styles that Shredded Corpse show here are good in their own way, this could have been longer, it simply ends too soon. But why do I moan, because this includes quality brutality?! One for those who want to dig a little deeper into death metal genre. A minor underground classic.

(originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com in 2003)