UMUR
"Undead" is the twelfth full-length studio album by US, Florida based death metal act Six Feet Under. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in May 2012. It´s the successor to "Graveyard Classics III" from 2010, but unlike it´s predecessor, "Undead" is an album with new original material and not a covers album featuring death metal versions of classic hard rock, punk, heavy metal, and thrash metal classics. There have been a couple of lineup changes since "Graveyard Classics III", as bassist Terry Butler has been replaced by Rob Arnold (who also plays guitar on the album), and drummer Greg Gall has been replaced by Kevin Talley. Both members leaving were longstanding members of Six Feet Under. Lead vocalist Chris Barnes and lead guitarist Steve Swanson remain from the lineup who recorded Graveyard Classics III".
New blood has meant some slight changes of sound, and especially the addition of Talley has meant that the drum work is a bit more technical that usual on a Six Feet Under album. This is not to be misunderstood as if I said that the material on "Undead" is technical death metal though...not in the slightest. This is still old school groove laden death metal with brutal growling vocals, relatively simple brutal riffs, easily accessible song structures, and horror/gore lyrics. Talley just brings more variation and interesting drumming details to the music, which makes "Undead" a more varied album than usual from Six Feet Under. Not enough great things can be said about his playing. But knowing his past achievements it´s really no surprise. It´s just a bit unusual to hear him play music as basic as this. The rest of the band are well playing too and Barnes sound pretty good here too (although I could have done without the many effects on his voice).
"Undead" is a well produced album featuring a powerful, brutal, and detailed sound production, which suits the material perfectly, and upon conclusion it´s one of the better albums in the band´s vast discography. I´ll mention Talley again as one of the main reasons for that, but the material is relatively well written too, although there´s little here you haven´t heard before on preceding releases by the band. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
