Exodus's best album with Rob Dukes as frontman shows some changes for the band; Tom Hunting's presence is missing, the grooves are different, and the approach to their songwriting is heading into more progressive territory of which newcomer guitarist Lee Altus from Heathen may be partly responsible for. This change of direction misses about as much as it hits at times, but there are many positive traits on display; the band down tune their guitars even heavier, resulting in their most dense riffing to date (the grooves sound very 'fat' and thick here), Rob's vocals here are mostly inoffensive, and there's monstrous tunes here (".44 Magnum Opus," the title track, "Raze," "Going Going Gone," and "Deathamphetamine" perfectly mix their groove and vicious thrashing). Paul's drumming is powerful, the production is clean yet even more bottom heavy than ever, and the thrash is more prominent and consistent than Tempo of The Damned (if the album isn't quite as good). A couple tunes here aren't as memorable as others here, but this is the band's last consistent output before their gradual slide in quality.
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