Gore Metal - Exhumed (1998)
Staged ridiculous album cover? Tick. Drums that sound like tin pail buckets with towels over them? Tick. The horror movie fan's hymn, production that leaves nowhere to hide, glorious breakdowns such as on Deathmask? Check, check, check.
From what I understand, Exhumed fell into the oft trespassed style of Carcass Worship in their earlier work. It's been a while since I've listened to Reek of Putrefaction and Symphonies of Sickness, so I find it difficult to discern which goregrind is guilty of it or not. Nevertheless, this full-length studio debut is supposed to be a transitionary release for the band. I honestly prefer it over those two Carcass albums I listed.
Granted, I may need to revisit Carcass. But Gore Metal (or by it's preferred title, Gore Fucking Metal) is too reliable in it's onslaught of riffs and cheese to pass up. I find it more 'listenable' in terms of it's cleaner sound and catchiness, so perhaps fans of pure tape sludge in the genre won't gravitate towards it, but for my taste? I'm already debating slotting a vinyl copy onto the wishlist...