In this episode, Ghost Cult Keefy chats with returning guest, Matt Harvey of Exhumed! In addition to his many Death Metal bands, he also composed solo instrumental albums, such as his new one for 2024, “Toward The Cold Light!” Matt discusses how he composes instrumental music, his non-guitar musical influences, a love of sci-fi and comic books, thoughts on Superman, and much more! Continue reading
Tag Archives: Matt Harvey
INTERVIEW: Matt Harvey of Exhumed – “To The Dead” Track-By-Track Breakdown
Ghost Cult caught up with our old pal Matt Harvey of Exhumed to discuss the new album from the band, “To The Dead” – out now from Relapse Records. In addition to catching up on his life and the band and Bay Area Death Metal, Matt treated us to a track-by-track breakdown of the new album. In addition, he discussed the many contributions from members of the band, current, and past who made an impact on the new album!
ALBUM REVIEW: Exhumed – To The Dead – Relapse Records
Besides writing reviews and attending shows, I have both full time and part time jobs, a family and too many cats. It’s safe to say that I like to stay busy but I have nothing on Exhumed founder and frontman, Matt Harvey. In this year alone he toured with both Gruesome and Death tribute band Left To Die (performing Leprosy in its entirety!) If that’s not enough, he somehow conjured up more hours in a day to write and record Exhumed’s latest batch of gore soaked madness, To The Dead (Relapse Records).
This Weekend’s All-Star Tribute to Death’s Chuck Schuldiner to Be Livestreamed
Next week marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of iconic Death vocalist and guitarist Chuck Schuldiner on December 13th, 2001. This weekend his friends, peers and disciples will assemble at The Brass Mug in Tampa, Florida to perform a tribute concert to the man and legend of Death Metal. The concert will feature an all-star cast of musicians, including six former members of Death. The show is expected to sell out, if it is not already, but now it will be lived streamed, which you can purchase at the link below.
ALBUM REVIEW: Pounder – Breaking The World
When listening to Pounder’s second album, Breaking The World, one immediately notices an improvement in lead singer/guitarist Matt Harvey’s (Exhumed/Gruesome) vocal performance. His voice still has the husky, untrained timbre that was an unfortunate liability on 2019’s Uncivilized, but also has more conviction and grit behind it this time around. It may still be a dealbreaker for some listeners, but at least they didn’t attempt to put a power ballad on here…
FESTIVAL REVIEW: Decibel’s Metal & Beer Fest 2019
Decibel Magazine’s Decibel Metal & Beer Fest was, to put it simply, stacked. Fourteen bands across all variants of Death, Grindcore, Prog, and Doom, descended onto Orange County for a weekend of heart-pounding jubilation. The two-day event was held this year at The Observatory, a large yet paradoxically intimate standing-room-only venue, intelligently designed to put the audience at three different heights across the entire space, offering uninhibited views of the stage beyond the perils of the pit.Continue reading
PODCAST: Episode 64 – Matt Harvey of Exhumed Talks Death Metal, Horror and Metallica
One of our favorite interviewees in person or the phone is Matt Harvey of Exhumed. Matt is as amazing to chat with as he is a guitarist and bandleader. Exhumed’s new album is the aptly titled Horror (Relapse Records) which came out just ahead of Halloween 2019, and he was in a spooky mood when we chatted. We talked about the new album, his proclivity for writing great OSDM songs, the consistency of the current lineup of the band, his favorite horror movies ever, and his thoughts on attending one of Metallica’s “S and M 2 Concerts” in San Francisco, earlier this fall, and more. Catch the band on tour through the start of December with Necrot! Continue reading
Gruesome – Twisted Prayers
Born out of a ferocious love and respect for Death’s early and face-ripping work, Gruesome, the brainchild of Exhumed’s Matt Harvey and Death To All’s Gus Rios are ready to unleash a new full-length onto the world in Twisted Prayers (Relapse). Some may wonder how they’ve stretched out so much from Death’s songbook to cover two LP and a couple of EPs, and the answer is by writing ferocious and infectious Death Metal…
Exhumed – Death Revenge
There is no doubting the near-legendary status that has been given to Exhumed, these guys have been producing some of the most classic sounding Death Metal for eons now, and Matt Harvey and crew continue to be one of the most consistent bands in the genre. Continue reading
Gruesome – Dimensions of Horror
In the world of death metal, there are few bands who are well respected as the band who set the foundations the whole genre, Death. To this day, the death of Chuck Schuldiner remains one of the biggest losses in the metal community, but the spirit of Death never really died. The Death to All tours kept Death a relevant part of the genre even after the death of Chuck, and this is where Gruesome becomes relevant as well.
Anyone listening to this band will instantly connect their sound to Death’s as there is some heavy influence in their sound. Gruesome are a death metal supergroup, with guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey and drummer Gus Rios toured with Death, with both members playing on Death to All tours previously. So if any band is worthy of picking up where Death left off, arguably it’s them. They already showed why they are a force to be reckoned with on their 2015 début album Savage (Relapse Records), but they solidify their excellence on their follow-up EP Dimensions of Horror (Relapse).
Simply put, if you like classic death metal, you will like this EP. It’s a six track onslaught of everything that makes this genre what it is. From the shredding guitars, throat tearing vocals, pounding drums and dark lyrical content; this band does it all so well. But this release does showcase a small issue with the band, that being that they really don’t have their own identity due to how much they rely on trying to bring back the sound of Death for a modern era.
Despite that one minor gripe though, this EP is a total banger. I can’t recommend it enough, and I hope this band grows into the beast they can become, but they will need to form a unique identity first.
8.0/10
MATTHEW BLANCHARD
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