Exhumed in Santa Ana: Pure Death Metal Chaos

The gore metal legends hit The Constellation Room with an exquisite serving of riffs.

Photograph by Joshua Alvarez

Text, Photographs by Joshua Alvarez (@joshua.jam3s) at

The Constellation Room on December 15, 2022:

With new album To the Dead (Relapse Records) in heavy circulation across the death metal ranks, Exhumed brought its extremity on tour across North America alongside the likes of Escuela Grind, Castrator, and Vitriol, rounding out one punishing touring bill. As expected, the Santa Ana tour stop at The Constellation Room made for a crushing night full of power violence and death metal. From the moment Castrator took the stage to the last note played by Vitriol, it was clear that Exhumed was every bit intentional about setting up a proper tour with bands apt for the occasion.

Exhumed then took the stage and commanded the attention of everyone attending, turning the Constellation into pure chaos. From circle pits to stage dives, there was nothing off limits. While Exhumed delivered their savagely heavy riffs and horrifyingly bone chilling lyrics, there were two televisions broadcasting gruesome visuals that delivered a visual that was more than fitting.

Photograph by Joshua Alvarez

Halfway into the set, the band left the stage with the exception of Sebastian Phillips and the bloody Dr. Philthy mascot, who took the stage to battle it out with modified guitars and angle grinder. Some might say that the doctor won the battle with his flashy performance full of sparks, guitar shredding, and crazy antics.

Photograph by Joshua Alvarez

The band ripped through new tracks and touched upon a lot of their discography, which spans over 30 gore filled years. Dr. Philthy then returned with a vengeance, this time wielding a chainsaw to meet the buzzing rage of Santa Ana. He went around to different fans, acting as if he is cutting off different limbs, making for a fun and interactive element to a career-spanning set that ended with a cover of Judas Priest's legendary Living After Midnight, the likes of which had the help from Clarissa Badini of Castrator. The track was given a proper spin that had the crowd singing and crowd surfing along with Dr. Philthy and Ross Sewage. Good times were had as frontman Matt Harvey led Santa Ana to a frenzied showing worth its weight in death metal gold.

Enjoy a photo gallery of the performance below and stream/order To The Dead.