Matt Harvey is the first to acknowledge it: Exhumed, the death metal band he’s led since 1990, is the Deep Purple of California death metal. Virtually every west coast DM musician of repute–more than 20 in the same number of years–has played in Exhumed at some point. The band’s constantly shifting cast of characters used to embarrass Harvey. These days, he takes a more sanguine view. “Everybody that we play with is a good musician, does a good job and has history with the band at this point,” Harvey tells Decibel. “So, to me, it’s credible.” The current lineup is plenty credible. Guitarist Wes Caley was in Uphill Battle and Fatalist; drummer Danny Walker also beats skins for Intronaut and Murder Construct; bassist Leon del Muerte, who is currently in his third stint with the band, fronts Murder Construct and D.I.S., and has cycled through Impaled, Intronaut and Phobia. They’ve all played in Exhumed before. Del Muerte has quit and rejoined twice.

Considering how focused Exhumed sound on All Guts, No Glory, the band’s first full-length album of original material in eight years, you’d never guess all the upheaval that preceded it. “In 2005, I was really frustrated,” Harvey admits. “I thought [2003’s] Anatomy Is Destiny was going to be the record that changed things for us… [but] everyone from Anatomy was gone from the band, and the last tour was sorta frustrating, and it just wasn’t going that great. The lineup wasn’t gelling, and I was like, ‘Fuck it, dude.’ I kind of wanted some other outlets for my life.”

After putting Exhumed on hiatus in 2005, Harvey distanced himself from death metal. He formed the thrash band Scarecrow, made an album with Dekapitator and recorded vocals for a posthumous release by the SF grind act Athrenody. He cut his hair and got an office job to see if he could hack it in the working world. He couldn’t. “You can change your hair, but you can’t change yourself,” Harvey pronounces sagely.

That realization led Harvey to cut ties and move to Hawaii. “I lived on Maui, and it’s a pretty small island. So, within a few months I pretty much knew everybody there that was into metal. And even there, they were like, ‘Dude, why aren’t you making Exhumed records, and on tour?’ And I was like, ‘I dunno, man!’ Little by little, these heavier riffs started coming out—I started tuning my guitar down again, and was like, ‘This is actually pretty fun.’”

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