04. Exodus Bonded By Blood 1985 (Combat)
Thrash Metal
Another harsh lesson in violence.
The Lowdown
Exodus were without doubt one of the ‘classic bay area thrash bands’ and one of the most recognized thrash bands of the whole genre, despite never garnering the same level of commercial success as the four other thrash bands that would make up the famed ‘Big Four’ label. Exodus were well described by Kerrang! as being a ‘severely muted guitar chopping band’ making them a suitable founding father figure for the trash genre and their debut album
Bonded By Blood is often considered one of the essential and pivotal thrash releases of its time and with it being so high here it’s a description that I’d hardly bother to argue against. In terms of style this album is right out of the Metallica
Kill ‘Em All locker and both albums sit side by side as omnipotent thrash albums, even though
Kill 'Em All has aged the better of the two.
Bonded By Blood was originally titled
A Lesson in Violence but as a suitable album cover couldn’t be found (hard to believe) the band opted for the more blasphemous choice of two babies as good and evil twins instead and with this came a title change. When the album was re-issued in 1989 it came with a striking red and black cover that really should’ve been used had it been thought of at the time of its release, as it looks for more dominant and sinister than the comic book look of the twin babies. The album clocks in at a credible 40 minutes and contains a bunch of trademark thrashers essential to any thrash metal collection. The bulk of the material on
Bonded By Blood is laid down by vocalist Paul Baloff and guitarist Gary Holt and tears down the tarmac starting with the pummelling title track “Bonded By Blood” and the eponymous “Exodus” completes the opening salvo. The band then show how catchy they can make thrash on a track like “And Then There Were None” which is followed by one of their best known tracks in “A Lesson of Violence”. One of my favourite cuts from this album is the almost Pantera sounding "No Love" which in places has some early groove metal posturing and the song contains great lines like 'the darkness is my lover, she makes me feel strong' and 'turn to look at baphomet, from below and not above'. The late 7 minute "Deliver Us to Evil' is truly the ****ing bizz and as they say worth the price of admission alone. All these torrid and bloodthirsty sounding tracks cover usual thrash territory of murder and rape, and all are backed by healthy satanic leanings meshed into the songs. Paul Baloff shreds his vocal chords across these tracks and was probably frothing at the mouth due to the intensity of his effort. The key formula though are probably the sharp and harsh riffs from the ‘H-team’ of Gary Holt and Rick Hunolt and if anybody were to ask me what archetypal thrash guitar riffs should sound like, then this pair here might be the first from my lips, as I love what I refer to as the constant pick-up riffs from classic thrash bands.
Bonded By Blood should have been the band’s stepping stone to the rising heights of Metallica and Slayer at this time, as Megadeth (higher up this list) were on the same level as Exodus and Anthrax had still yet to up their ante to a more reputable level of craftsmanship. In fact
Bonded By Blood due to technical problems like finding a suitable album cover as mentioned above, should’ve been released a year earlier and if it had it may have seen the band rise with Metallica’s star. Exodus though like many others before them would be blighted with these kind of issues, which also included the loss of vocalist Paul Baloff to form his own band Piranha a song title on this album, who he no doubt thought would be better than Exodus, but of course they weren’t. Exodus much like NWOBHM band Angel Witch waited far too long to release their sophomore and build from their debut release and missed the fast train. Either way Exodus would continue to put out some good albums over the years despite the fact that the following
Pleasures of the Flesh wasn’t one of them, but none of their future releases would come close to the brutal heights of
Bonded By Blood.
Paul Baloff- Vocals
Gary Holt- Guitar
Rick Hunolt- Guitar
Rob Mckillop- Bass
Tom Hunting- Drums
Production- Mark Whitaker