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10-12 Exodus stream new album
09-09 Exodus post new song
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Once the kings of the Bay Area metal scene -- one of the birthplaces of thrash -- Exodus were unceremoniously demoted from theirpostwiththearrival of
Los Angeles' Metallica in 1982. And while they proceeded to eek out a hit-and-miss career of their own over thenext fewdecades,allthe while influencing
at least two separate generations of younger thrash bands, Exodus were ultimatelyfated to be the ultimatealso-rans of thegenre they helped spawn.
Formed in 1981 by singer Paul Baloff, guitarists Gary Holt andKirk Hammett, bassist GeoffAndrews,and drummer TomHunting, Exodus were heavily
inf ...read more
Once the kings of the Bay Area metal scene -- one of the birthplaces of thrash -- Exodus were unceremoniously demoted from theirpostwiththearrival of
Los Angeles' Metallica in 1982. And while they proceeded to eek out a hit-and-miss career of their own over thenext fewdecades,allthe while influencing
at least two separate generations of younger thrash bands, Exodus were ultimatelyfated to be the ultimatealso-rans of thegenre they helped spawn.
Formed in 1981 by singer Paul Baloff, guitarists Gary Holt andKirk Hammett, bassist GeoffAndrews,and drummer TomHunting, Exodus were heavily
influenced by Motörhead and New Waveof British Heavy Metal bands like IronMaiden andRaven, whose lessonsthey combined with the raw, D.I.Y.
aesthetic of theprolific Bay Area punk scene to create thrash metal. Theirhandfulof demos recorded between1982-1984 became wildly popularon the all-
important underground tape-trading circuit of the time,andsolidified the band's standing as the BayArea's first thrashchampions. But they would soon
lose their numero uno standing as well astheirguitarist Hammett to theaforementionedMetallica, who then raced ahead of all competitors in their mission
to bring thrash to theworld.Wounded but undaunted,Exodusdrafted guitarist Rick Hunolt and replaced bassist Andrews with Rob McKillop before signing
withTorridRecords, for whom theyrecordedtheir Bonded by Blood debut in 1984. But the album languished unreleased for over a year due
tobusinessproblems,and by the time it was finallyunveiled by Combat Records in 1985, the would-be genre benchmark already sounded
datedanditsimpact was severely dulled by the quickevolution of their peers.
These hardships also led to the ousting of vocalist Baloff, whose carefree, larger-than-life attitude (and often drunken behavior)made
himaneasyscapegoat for his more driven bandmates. His replacement was ex-Testament singer Steve "Zetro" Souza,who arrived in
timefor1987'sdisappointing Pleasures of the Flesh -- an inconsistent album which did nothing to advance Exodus'cause. Incessant touringserved
tostrengthenthe band's new lineup, though, and 1989's meticulously conceived FabulousDisaster was a critical triumph, bringingthe group totheir
commercialpeak. The successful world tour which followed broughtanother dramatic setback, however, when drummerHunting wasdiagnosed with
anirregular heartbeat which first sidelined, thenforced him to quit the band at tour's end. Still, Exodus was on aroll, and theirmomentum led to anew
contract with CapitolRecords, which immediately rushed them back into the studio with formerAnthrax drum techJohn Tempesta manningthe skins,to lay
down tracks for 1990's Impact Is Imminent. But the absence of a competentproducer and a carelesslyassembledcollection ofsongs resulted in a dull,
forgettable album that was doomed to commercial failure fromday one, squanderingthegroup's recent accomplishmentsand pretty much closing their
window to success. Longtime bassist McKillop leftsoon after(replaced by MikeButler) and despite the renewedquality of 1992's Force of Habit (certainly
their most diverse album ever),themembers of Exodus decided togo their separate ways when thegrunge revolution sidelined heavy metal bands of most
anystripe.
But then, ten years after his departure from the band, Paul Baloff rejoined most of the classic Bonded by Blood lineup for a seriesof gigsin1997.A live
album entitled Another Lesson in Violence was issued by Century Media to memorialize their homecomingshow in SanFrancisco,and theband continued to
perform sporadically over the next few years until tragedy struck: Baloffsuddenly passed away onFebruary 2, 2002aftersuffering a massive stroke and
slipping into a comma three days earlier.Guitarist Gary Holt -- long Exodus' de factoleader -- still wantedto carryon, however, so after reuniting most of
the band's"semi-classic" Fabulous Disaster formation, also featuringHunolt, Hunting andSouza, plusbassist Jack Gibson, work began onthe band's sixth
studio album, 2004's Nuclear Blast released thrash-fest, Tempo of theDamned. The recorddidn't bring Exodusfame and fortune, of course, but it did meet
with widespread critical acclaimedand firmlyreestablished the band's career withthehelp of their still peerlessly energetic live performances, now being
witnessed worldwideby thousandsof impressionable fans, tooyoung tohave seen the original legends of thrash -- Exodus, Metallica, Slayer, etc. -- during
theirglory years.
In fact, not even a final falling out with Souza and Hunolt could derail the Exodus juggernaut now, as they moshed back into thestudiotorecord2005's
Shovel Headed Kill Machine with vocalist Rob Dukes, guitarist Lee Altus (once of competing Bay Areathrashers Heathen),anddrummerPaul Bostaph (ex-
Forbidden, Slayer, Testament, etc.). Two years later, they were back at itagain, with a returning TomHuntingbehind the drumkit for another new studio
album named The Atrocity Exhibition...Exhibit A,as well as 2008's Let There Be Blood (awell-meaning but utterlyunnecessary re-recording of 1985's
seminal Bonded by Blooddebut), as well as 2010's Exhibit B: The HumanCondition. Bethat as it may, Exoduscontinue in their quest to instruct
newmillennium audiences with their one-of-a-kind "lesson inviolence"; simultaneouslyreaping the undyingrespect (if not monetaryreward) from the
hundreds of purist young thrash bands, created intheir image, that sprung upworldwide towards theend of the'00s.
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