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I've learned to appreciate and even enjoy death metal, in admittedly small doses, over the years with a few bands sticking out to me. One of those is San Jose's Exhumed. Starting with 2017's Death Revenge, I've been digging their approach to death metal and that continues with To the Dead, their ninth album (not counting the Gore Metal: A Necrospective album from 2015) of blood, guts, and gore. I typically shy away from cookie monster vocals and "all things gore" lyrics, but sometimes I need a little brutality in my mix and Exhumed scratch that itch for me. Honestly, I can't understand what most death metal singers are saying, so the lyrics aren't really a hurdle and I like how Exhumed don't rely solely on growls but mix it up with blackened rasping which helps avoid a vocal approach which can really get monotonous for me. And sure, they play fast but there is plenty of good, old-fashioned thrash in their sound and the speed isn't cranked up to "grind" all the time. There are no standout tracks to my ears, just 39+ minutes of buzz-saw riffing, machine-gun drumming and vocals from the depths of hell. I am sure there are fans far more well versed in what makes for "good" death metal but, to my ears, To the Dead is pretty damn enjoyable.