EXODUS News

Long hailed as the band that spawned the burgeoning Bay Area Thrash scene in the early '80s, one cannot discuss the power and influence of EXODUS without going into the genealogy of metal music. The most important thing for everyone to know is this: the words “quit” and “surrender” do not exist in Gary Holt's vocabulary.

Currently on tour through North America in support of Shovel Headed Kill Machine, EXODUS will make it extremely obvious that their kill tank has only one gear: straight ahead like a mechanical battering ram, which explains why the album went on to rank #3 in a nationwide “Top 5 Albums of 2005” poll by Decibel Magazine. “When it comes to writing and performing the thrash metal they helped invent more than two decades ago,” cites Outburn Magazine, “EXODUS can hold their heads high as the reigning kings.”

EXODUS' attitude-driven sound is carried out with the brutality of military vengeance. Punctuated by the wide range and reckless fury of Rob Dukes' caustic, cholera-infested vocals and replete with gang vocals, SHKM spills over with raw, heart-racing Gary Holt/Lee Altus lead guitar riffs and solos that give the record its soul. The thunderous pull of Jack Gibson's precise bass work locking in with the furious abandon of Paul Bostaph's breakneck double-bass beats and complex snare and tom patterns results in an undeniably bestial rhythm section. “Standard metal sounds like love songs compared to the musical violence of EXODUS' Shovel Headed Kill Machine,” commended DRUM! Magazine, and no truer words could have been spoken.