Heavy Street

I was on the fence about going to see Exodus at the Rickshaw Theater tomorrow, as I have seen them a few times already. After viewing some footage from their blistering set at Wacken 2008, how can I not go. Gary Holt and Rob Dukes are a brute force on record, and to witness them in a live setting, is a spectacle in itself. Gary’s guitar tone is mammoth, and Rob has this voice that could move mountains (he even looks like a mountain!).

You gotta hand it to the original San Fran thrash kings, as 25 years later, they are still putting out quality material. The new stuff for me is just as, if not more superior all the way around in terms of song writing and sonics. The last three albums Exodus has put out is some of their best work. Plus, the new school Thrash merchants Bonded By Blood are opening the show, so all the more reason to not sit at home.

Anyways, check out Exodus playing my favorite song of theirs “Black List” in front of 30,000 German metal heads and tell me different.

Exodus continue marching the  thrash metal path as the true leaders, proven with their new album Exhibit B: The Human Condition. Gary Holt and the boys have done it again by delivering another batch of solid, pure thrash songs to run in a circle with. Exodus since 2004 are on a role, as every album from Tempo Of The Damned on down has been a solid effort.

The songs are not contained in short bursts. Instead the grooves that are locked in are allowed to breath, and flow. Case in point being “Beyond The Pale”, it takes a back seat for a bit, and then goes straight into headbanging thrashdom. Same goes with my new fave Exodus track “The Sun Is My Destroyer”, this song is now the standard upon which other bands will have to match. Another track, “March of The Sycophants” could have easily been off Fabulous Disaster, as it rides the mid-tempo thrash groove that only Exodus can truly pull off. If you’re looking for songs that charter new territory, you’re in the wrong place. Exhibit B is just pure Bay Area thrash circa 1986.