Matt Harvey talks road horror, death metal, comic books, and why EXHUMED are “just rockers”
There is a certain romance attached to the open road.
The endless highway. The freedom. The adventure. The idea that somewhere beyond the next horizon sits a version of yourself you’ve never met before.
Then there is EXHUMED.
Where most bands see freedom, EXHUMED see twisted metal wrapped around guard rails. They see truck-stop nightmares, shattered windscreens, severed limbs and roadside fatalities. They see the American highway not as a symbol of liberation, but as a giant, blood-soaked machine waiting for its next victim.
And honestly?
The more Matt Harvey explained it, the more it made perfect sense.
Ahead of EXHUMED’s Australian and New Zealand tour, Crannk sat down with the band’s mastermind to discuss the upcoming album Red Asphalt, a record that swaps morgues and graveyards for bitumen and broken bones.
“The highway is probably the most dangerous place most people go every day,” Harvey explained.
“The place where they’re most likely to be maimed, mutilated, dismembered, killed, pulverized… any of that good stuff.”
That’s the genius of Red Asphalt.
Death metal has spent decades exploring fictional horrors. Zombies. Serial killers. Demons. Monsters. Yet Harvey realised something many of us overlook every single day.
The real horror is already outside our windscreen.
While rock and roll has spent generations romanticising life on the road, EXHUMED have taken that mythology, dragged it into a ditch and run it over repeatedly.
“There’s a romance to it… you get in your car and get out on the open road and all this stuff. You can find yourself or find America or whatever the fuck. So I thought it was fun to subvert that idea by pointing out all of the horrible things that can and do happen out there.”
The conversation quickly revealed why EXHUMED have survived while countless death metal bands have disappeared beneath the weight of their own extremity.
Harvey isn’t interested in being the fastest. He isn’t interested in being the most technical. He isn’t interested in chasing trends.
He wants songs.
“We’re not the best musicians… we’re just rockers.”
It might be the most honest quote you’ll hear from a death metal veteran all year.
That philosophy bleeds through every aspect of the band. Whether discussing songwriting, touring or guitar gear, Harvey consistently returned to simplicity and practicality over excess.
While many modern players obsess over endless digital options and increasingly complex rigs, Harvey’s approach remains refreshingly direct.
“I want something that’s simple and direct and gets me where I need to be.”
Of course, being a conversation between two lifelong nerds, things eventually veered completely off the rails.
Death metal gave way to comic books.
Suddenly we weren’t talking about gore anymore.
We were talking Jack Kirby. Bernie Wrightson. Fantastic Four. Transmetropolitan. Preacher. Horror comics. Graphic novels. The kind of conversation that happens when the interview stops being an interview and starts becoming two fans exchanging recommendations.
The result is one of the most relaxed and enjoyable conversations we’ve had in quite some time.
And somewhere between discussions about highway fatalities, guitar cabinets and 100 Bullets, you get a much clearer picture of who Matt Harvey actually is behind the blood and gore.
The full interview is available now and is absolutely worth your time.
Watch the full interview below.
This is the gospel.
I bite crowd surfers.
Killer.
