Exodus
 

I was looking for the Exodus thread so that I could post about seeing them live, but much to my surprise, they didn't have one. So here goes...

Exodus was a major player in the early Bay Area thrash scene and released their first demo in 1982 (featuring Kirk Hammett, before he moved to Metallica). While they've never had the virtuosity of Megadeth, the mainstream success of Metallica, or the extreme imagery of Slayer, Exodus has their own fun and aggressive brand of thrash... always with a sense of humour and never taking themselves too seriously. Their 1985 album, Bonded by Blood, is an absolute classic of the genre and Paul Baloff's insane deranged vocal style there is the best in the business.

Since then, they've been through numerous lineup changes, a hiatus and deaths of band members, but they've still managed to release some good material today. Tempo of the Damned from 2004 ranks among their best.

For whatever reason I always seemed to avoid Exodus. When I was in my early metal days and working my way through some of the lesser known Thrash metal bands I would always skip over Exodus at the CD shop. When I lost my morality and went to mostly downloading I never really bothered working my way back through their discography. I only started to listen to them this summer when I saw how high Exhibit B: The Human Condition (2010) rates on RYM top albums of 2010. It was pretty decent, a nice departure from my European focused metal bands, but even after that I still don't really feel like looking through their catalog. Not sure why, but I think Exodus are just going to be one of those bands I feign ignorance towards.

I have to admit to not being a big Exodus fan even though I have seen them twice and 20 years apart.

I certainly appreciate their importance in American Thrash and if things had worked out different they would have been held in the same reverence as the big 4 and Bonded By Blood is a seminal album but their output has been so inconsistent (not always the bands fault-just circumstance) that I rarely listen to them at all these days.

I consider Testament's first 3 albums much more integral to the early development of the American scene personally. They do still put on a good show though and I enjoyed myself thoroughly last year when I saw them in Germany.

My opinion is much the same as what has been written above about the band. They`re too inconsistent to be regarded as a great metal act, and also I`ve got to say they are now a group I tend to overlook too.

Apart from the classic "Bonded By Blood" the only other albums of note are "Fabulous Disaster" and "Force of Habit" The latter if I remember correctly having an amusing conversation between a band member and a pet shop attendent over a monkey (as part of a song intro) These two albums were enjoyable, but I wouldn`t call them great or anything like that.

When people think of Exodus they normally think of Paul Baloff as the singer, and it often surprises people that he was only ever on three Exodus album. Steve Souza sang on the lions share of Exodus stuff. They now have another lead singer

The group is probably best remembered as being home at one time, to some great metal musicians such as Kirk Hammett, Paul Bostaph and John Tempest.

Yeah, Exodus definitely peaked with BBB. They have had a bit of a patchy discography but then again, I can't think of a big thrash band who hasn't.

Did you see them live yet? Or are you thinking of seeing them live?

I've never givent Exodus a fair listen. I've only heard there debut and it's pretty sweet. Any other albums I should check out?

The two I quoted on post 4.

I seem to remember having Bonded By Blood & Pleasures Of The Flesh buried away somewhere. It's gotta be nearly 15-20 years since I last heard them.
I might dig them out sometime.

Hell yeah Exodus kicks ass! Bonded By Blood, Fabulous Disaster, and Impact is Imminent all the way for me!