Excreting their malignant essence onto an unsuspecting Metal scene in 1998 with their confrontational debut full-length, “Gore Metal”, Exhumed have since become synonymous with the genre they helped brand. Their signature sound, a savage blend of snarling, grinding down-tuned guitars, alternately abrasively screeched and grotesquely gurgled vocals, and pummeling, straightforward drumming, have become universally recognized as the hallmarks of the style now called Gore Metal. Taking these elements several steps beyond their previous works, including the barbarically stripped-down, in-your-face approach of their sophomore effort, “Slaughtercult”, Exhumed have returned with their third full-length album, “Anatomy is Destiny”.

Devotees of influential death metal merchants like Blood Red Throne (Norway), Gorguts (Canada), and Grave (Sweden) have a new American band to champion. Creeping Death draw liberally from the template set by those bands along with the speed of early Sepultura (Brazil) and the hammering epic crush of Bolt Thrower (England). All of these classic sounds are reforged together and reflected through Creeping Death’s own fresh and unique prism.

Virginia-based crossover maniacs ENFORCED open their Century Media account with their blistering new album, “Kill Grid”. Informed by an incredible cross-section of extremes—from thrash and punk to death metal and hardcore—the emergent outfit drop a nine-song cluster-bomb of thrashing death on apathetic times. Formed in Richmond in 2017 out of shreds of disbanded hardcore and punk bands, ENFORCED quickly found their calling between the undying support of regional punk/hardcore scenes and their respective record collections. Whether it’s Sacred Reich and Integrity or Bolt Thrower and Amebix, “Pure Crossover Death,” as ENFORCED call their devastating din, devastatingly speared its way through two demos (“Demo 2017” and “Retaliation”) and their no-holds-barred debut, “At the Walls”.

“I would describe our sound as metal and hardcore,” says ENFORCED guitarist Will Wagstaff. “We come from punk, hardcore, and metal, all of which can be taken to the extreme—and we love everything about it. I love Iron Maiden and Morbid Angel and Poison Idea and GISM. I love anything that inspires me in either how extreme or how good the songwriting is—or both! There is a difference between ‘One’ by Metallica and ‘Jesus Wept’ by Suffocation, but they nonetheless inspire me. Our main goal is to write music that combines extreme elements from our favorite music with good songwriting.”