Exodus - Blood In, Blood Out
I think that many of us can agree that Exodus haven't been very good since Steve Souza left the band. His replacement, Rob Dukes, certainly wasn't an outright terrible vocalist by any stretch of the imagination, but he just didn't feel right for the band - not helped by the fact that Exodus' songwriting quality fluctuated so violently from song to song that it was difficult to tell whether or not the band actually gave a shit anymore. Shovel Headed Kill Machine and The Arocity Exhiition: Exhibit A had their share of good songs (Deathamphetamine and Children of a Worthless God) but Exhibit B: The Human Condition was a bland, lifeless, overly long and drawn out mess that really left me questioning the band's future. The fact that they had to follow up 2004's Tempo of the Damned - their last with Souza on vocals, and my absolute favourite Exodus record - certainly didn't help matters either, so when news broke earlier in 2014 that Steve had rejoined Exodus to record a new album, the thrash scene collectively shit itself in excitement. How could they not? The problem was that Exodus had sucked for the past decade without Souza, and Souza had been in a bunch of bands that were pretty much just really tame knockoffs of Exodus; was this reunion going to be worth the wait, or is everything being fogged by blind fanboy nostalgia?
Well, when I heard the first two tracks the band released (Salt the Wound and the title track) I wasn't impressed. Initially, it seemed like all of my fears had been confirmed; Steve's vocals are a bit less gravelly and have a slightly more nasal sound to them, which I was a little skeptical over, but over time I've realised that it's actually not bad. His performance is easily on par with his colossal work on Tempo of the Damned ten years prior, and considering that the lad must be in his mid forties now, he does a fine job. The problem is that his more recent bands such as Hatriot and Tenet didn't really complement him very well by coming across as inferior attempts to emulate the Exodus sound, which even Exodus themselves have been guilty of lately, so it's just piss in the wind if the music doesn't match up to Souza's mighty screech.
The riffs are a step up from the lackluster Exhibit B, and there's some definite catchiness and trademark Holt-Altus tradeoffs and harmonies thrown into the mix that gives it a definite Exodus sound. Is it perfect? No, of course not. The songs still feel too long (a tradition that Exodus are notorious for) and as with the previous album, it does tend to bleed together and make you lose track of where one song ends and another begins. It's to be expected of an album that runs for an hour and ten minutes (!) but it's rather offputting when the really good stuff gets padded out to the point where the allure has worn off. Still, the band could have done far worse and it's still a monolithic step up from almost everything that Exodus have release over the past decade; though the heavily promoted inclusions of Testament's Chuck Billy and ex-Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett seem to be rather pointless as their contributions (BTK and Salt the Wound, respectively) are negligible. They're not a detriment to the album's quality, but it certainly doesn't come across as different or interesting enough to warrant such bragging rights in all the promotional materials - and in this critic's opinion, Lee Altus is such a phenomenal guitar player that there was no need for Kirk Hammett to be on the album at all. Yes, he's finally recorded with Exodus again for the first time since 1982. Who cares? Who can even tell the bloody difference?
So in answer to my earlier question, Blood In, Blood Out is easily the best Exodus album that we've had in ten years and it seems that Souza rejoining the band has actually paid off. It's not as significant a leap in quality as one would have hoped for, but there are a great many people out there who were majorly turned off by the band's Dukes-era records and if anything is going to bring those fans back, it's going to be this. Some further refinements here and there, maybe a bit more variety in the song structures, and the next Exodus album could have the potential to be the best of their entire career. This is a surprisingly competent record that's worth checking out.
Well, when I heard the first two tracks the band released (Salt the Wound and the title track) I wasn't impressed. Initially, it seemed like all of my fears had been confirmed; Steve's vocals are a bit less gravelly and have a slightly more nasal sound to them, which I was a little skeptical over, but over time I've realised that it's actually not bad. His performance is easily on par with his colossal work on Tempo of the Damned ten years prior, and considering that the lad must be in his mid forties now, he does a fine job. The problem is that his more recent bands such as Hatriot and Tenet didn't really complement him very well by coming across as inferior attempts to emulate the Exodus sound, which even Exodus themselves have been guilty of lately, so it's just piss in the wind if the music doesn't match up to Souza's mighty screech.
The riffs are a step up from the lackluster Exhibit B, and there's some definite catchiness and trademark Holt-Altus tradeoffs and harmonies thrown into the mix that gives it a definite Exodus sound. Is it perfect? No, of course not. The songs still feel too long (a tradition that Exodus are notorious for) and as with the previous album, it does tend to bleed together and make you lose track of where one song ends and another begins. It's to be expected of an album that runs for an hour and ten minutes (!) but it's rather offputting when the really good stuff gets padded out to the point where the allure has worn off. Still, the band could have done far worse and it's still a monolithic step up from almost everything that Exodus have release over the past decade; though the heavily promoted inclusions of Testament's Chuck Billy and ex-Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett seem to be rather pointless as their contributions (BTK and Salt the Wound, respectively) are negligible. They're not a detriment to the album's quality, but it certainly doesn't come across as different or interesting enough to warrant such bragging rights in all the promotional materials - and in this critic's opinion, Lee Altus is such a phenomenal guitar player that there was no need for Kirk Hammett to be on the album at all. Yes, he's finally recorded with Exodus again for the first time since 1982. Who cares? Who can even tell the bloody difference?
So in answer to my earlier question, Blood In, Blood Out is easily the best Exodus album that we've had in ten years and it seems that Souza rejoining the band has actually paid off. It's not as significant a leap in quality as one would have hoped for, but there are a great many people out there who were majorly turned off by the band's Dukes-era records and if anything is going to bring those fans back, it's going to be this. Some further refinements here and there, maybe a bit more variety in the song structures, and the next Exodus album could have the potential to be the best of their entire career. This is a surprisingly competent record that's worth checking out.
- Black 13 (feat. Dan the Automator)
- Blood In Blood Out
- Collateral Damage
- Salt The Wound (feat. Kirk Hammett)
- Body Harvest
- BTK (feat. Chuck Billy)
- Wrapped In The Arms Of Rage
- My Last Nerve
- Numb
- Honor Killings
- Food For The Worms
Label: http://www.nuclearblast.com
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Oct 10, 2014
Oct 10, 2014
Next review:
Caedere - The Lost Conveyance
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