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EXODUS
1985 - Bonded By Blood.
1989 - Fabulous Disaster.
2004 - Tempo Of The Damned.
more EXODUS.
way more Helter Skelter.

April 25, 1985 - 2020: 35 years of: Bonded By Blood.

Murder in the front row !

The very first Californian thrashmetal band. Led in 1979 by wild guitarist Kirk Hammett, he and axe-buddy Gary Holt crafted thrashmetal. Aggressive metal, influenced by both American punk and British heavymetal, yet it wasn't until they met madman-singer Paul Baloff that shit got real ...and so did the damage !

Wrecking havoc in the local San-Francisco Bay-Area scene, thru destroyed property and eardrums, it was in 1983 that Hammett left the band to pursue his career with another thrashmetal up-coming act: METALLICA. Enter new guitarist Rick Hunolt, the band would finally record a slab of explosive material that would shape a style and a generation of metal-heads and metal-bands: Bonded By Blood one of America's rawest thrashmetal outrage !

The title-track is thrashmetal 101. Fast riffing, powerful hooks and scorching vocal, this is teen-angst at it's best. We'll just leave this here:

"Murder in the front row, crowd begins to bang,
And there's blood upon the stage,
Bang you head against the stage,
And metal takes its price, bonded by blood"

The slaughter continues with the fast wife-raping and wife-murdering "Exodus" and speed-monster "Strike Of The Beast". Decades before the "Blacklist" and "The Lunatic Parade", thrashmetal got metalized on the mid-paced pounding "And Then There Were None" while the rabid riff-o-rama attack that is the underwater terror of the mighty "Piranha" finished any survivors.

Another level of hate is released on the appropriately titled "A Lesson In Violence", a full speedmetal song that lets body-parts fly in the mosh-pit. Good friendly violent fun !

Unfortunately timing was a bit off for this release has 1985 was already swamped with many other talented acts worldwide. This misstep from indie-label Torrid Records did cost them a lot of momentum. Remember that in 1985, speedmetal was the fastest and angriest music under the sun. Classicks like RAZOR's Evil Invaders, KREATOR's Endless Pain, SLAYER's Hell Awaits and CELTIC FROST's To Mega Therion ...even made VENOM sounds like frosted hippies !

A well received reunion in 1997 saw Baloff behind the mic again for a tour and subsequent live album. But tragedy struck in 2002, has he would sadly pass away from a cardiac-arrest, while the band was working on their comeback CD, the Tempo Of The Damned album later released in 2004. In 2008, along with new frontman Rob Dukes, they re-recorded the entire Bounded By Blood CD, a new exhibition entitled Let There Be Blood, for this generation of millennium-thrashers. Thru this toxic waltz, EXODUS did leave a mark and are still today, one of the top attraction in the classic thrashmetal-genre.

Metal-brothers and metal-sisters unite worldwide, as we are all: Bonded By Blood !

RIP Paul Baloff (1960-2002)

*
Bonded By Blood = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AbGtqGUUYs&list=PL84C7946A3FD4BE35
Live from The Ultimate Revenge in 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPWksa71SX8
Soundcheck at the Dynamo Club in 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzH7_mCk_uY
Live and interview in S.F. in 1997
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHMtpMEyohA
Live at the Dynamo in 1997
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lho6-ChaO0
The Paul Baloff exercice video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPgKYNaO0_U

January 30, 1989 - 2024: 35 years of: Fabulous Disaster.

1989: another key-year for thrashmetal's dominance.

The Bay-Area thrash stalwart strikes the beast again, with their second Zetro-led release. After the cannibalism of 1987's Pleasure Of The Flesh LP, the hate-game would step-up and the mosh-pit would finally get a certified anthem. Hail EXODUS !

"The Last Act Of Defiance" is the first carceral power-punch from this lovely offering. Raw and relentless, the guitars attack with unparalleled aggression. This speed ravaged unit brings us the dreaded "Fabulous Disaster", a thrashmetal monument of apocalyptic proportions, one of the era's best cut.

The mid-paced mammoth "Like Father, Like Son" is a progressive-thrash giant, while "Corruption" is another school for metal-riffing. The cool WAR and AC/DC reprises, "Low Rider" and "Overdose" respectively, are fine metalized rockers.

And now: the riff, the crunch and the broken collar-bone.

After many murders in the front-row, we now happily dwell in "The Toxic Waltz". Good friendly violent fun, this RPM-pushing monster became the call for moshers and thrashers worldwide to "Slam your partner against the wall". Sick sweep lead trade-offs and stage-diving breakdown-part, this is iconic-metal.

There's the Big Four ...and then there's EXODUS. Theoretically their influence qualifies them, but in reality the sales-unit weren't enough to even make the meter-move ...but the pay-off is just a calendar-year away. The band's next hot-pursuit would thrust them into the circle of the top-mosh merchants. The closing era for traditional-thrashmetal, one of 1990's shiny diamond: the Capitol Records issued Impact Is Imminent CD.

*
The Toxic Waltz = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3xC1I2rXHE
Fabulous Disaster = full LP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79rL16bOacw&list=OLAK5uy_mU2egQZXhfIsFss9TGdNFG94f6KCEPXUQ
Interview in 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_xemFD5T2k
Live in Bochum in 1989
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMMllQjTuUE

February 2, 2004 - 2024: 20 years of: Tempo Of The Damned.

Welcome back, thrashmetal forefathers !

After the shitty 90s, the new millennium would be the bright light at the end of the tunnel. Following Summer 2001's gig for TESTAMENT's Chuck Billy cancer fundraiser, The Bay-Area was brewing it's comeback. EXODUS leads the piranhas to their prey ...coz fuck this current post-nümetal shit-fest.

World War Three begins !

9/11 revengeance for the Red, White & Blue rings aloud as "Scar Spangled Banner" rips the scene in half. Deadly thrash palm-muting and deadly thrash tone ...this is a fabulous disaster. The beatdown into submission continues on the jackhammer pulse of "Blacklist" and the cool agressive metal-mosh of "Throwing Down".

The 2003 Iraq Invasion gets an ultra high-gain crunch with the fast chops of "War Is My Shepherd" and the groovy hooks of "Culling The Herd". The pit is a serious sport-arena where the laws of "Sealed With A Fist" rules. Another speed killer cut is the very early 80s "Impaler" ...a track co-written by a certain K. Hammett.

Following the 1997 reunion, this CD was initially set to fully feature the Paul Baloff + H-Team line-up, sadly the mosh was cut short as Baloff would die of a stroke in early 2002. Second in command: Zetro is back and this second reunion would put to tape some of the most lethal thrashmetal since the glorious late 80s.

More murders in the front row !

After 1991's Clash Of The Titans and 2001's Thrash Of The Titans ...arises the return of The Titans. Hot air-strikes from EXODUS, DEATH ANGEL and later FORBIDDEN and HEATHEN would be the long waited blessings for thrashmetal's classic revival.

A new era, with ...yes another monster behind the mike: 2005's first Rob Dukes nuclear assault led Shovel Headed Kill Machine CD.

*
War Is My Shepherd = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hI9b4f9cJA
Throwing Down = video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KjvrXp0U5w
Tempo Of The Damned = full CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IunnJdDTY-w&list=OLAK5uy_km2iofte73QNFipDds4uRAvHTCtTuyQFM
Interview in 2004
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMRDaPgBmRs
Live at the DNA in 2004
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM1CAoXfRbI

more EXODUS:

Bay-Area 87-88