helterskelter.ca

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

April 5, 1985 - 2025: 40 years of: Bonded By Blood.

Murders in the front row !

1979's very first Californian thrashmetal band, led by wild guitarist Kirk Hammett, he and axe-buddy Gary Holt crafted aggression. Influenced by both American punk and British heavymetal, yet it wasn't until they teamed-up with madman-singer Paul Baloff that shit got real ...and so did the damage.

Wrecking havoc in the San-Francisco Bay-Area scene, thru destroyed property and eardrums, Hammett left in 1983 to pursue his life-long career with another thrashmetal up-coming act: METALLICA. Enter new guitarist Rick Hunolt and the band would finally record explosive material that would shape a generation.

EXODUS's Bonded By Blood LP: one of America's rawest thrashmetal outrage.

The titletrack is thrash-school 101. Fast riffing, powerful hooks and scorching vocal, this is teen-angst at it's best. Here's the recipe for a hardcore moshpit: "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 !"

Decades before the "Blacklist" and "The Lunatic Parade", thrash-mosh got metalized on the mid-paced pounding "And Then There Were None" while the rabid riff-o-rama attack of the underwater terror of the mighty "Piranha" finished any survivors. The slaughter continues with the fast beating and murdering "Exodus" and speed-monster "Strike Of The Beast". Another level of hate is released on the appropriately titled "A Lesson In Violence", a full speedmetal raid that lets body-parts fly in the pit. Good friendly violent fun !

Unfortunately, delays from indie Torrid Records did cost them some momentum, as Spring 1985 was a bit off, as the global scene was already swamped with other brutal acts. Calendar-year 1985 is when speedmetal became the fastest music under the sun. Stonehenges like Evil Invaders, Endless Pain and Hell Awaits LPs ...even made VENOM sounded like aging hippies.

The ultimate revenge.

After the carnage and chaos, Baloff was let go ...yet a well received 1997 reunion, brought him behind the mic again for a tour and subsequent live CD. These would be his only two commercially available recordings. Throughout this toxic waltz, the band shall damage the scene with 1987's Pleasures Of The Flesh LP, now led by ex-TESTAMENT screamer Steve "Zetro" Souza.

In 2008, along with new frontman Rob Dukes, EXODUS re-recorded the entire Bonded By Blood CD, a revamped exhibition entitled Let There Be Blood CD, for this generation of new millennium-thrashers. 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=7kmT5llotS8&list=OLAK5uy_mqL2rHoJ5Li9eTrnQCSTM4EVNbCiduZ70
Live from The Ultimate Revenge in 1985
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hfzvzYS6Qc
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:

#The Ultimate Revenge
&

#Bay-Area 87-88