One of the corner stones of Thrash Metal, Exodus are not exactly a name that needs an introduction. Having been together for total of thirty five years the band have truly seen it all. Releasing their latest album Blood In, Blood Out saw the return of vocal legend Steve “Zetro” Souza, giving the band a new found lease of life the record was one of the highest charting of their career. Which, is saying something when the band have been around for as long!
[date]24th June 2015[/date]
[venue]The Underworld[/venue]
[city]London[/city]
[support_bands]English Dogs[/support_bands]
After the initial release of the record the band undertook an extensive touring schedule playing all over the corners of the globe. One hundred and thirty three shows later we see the band arrive at London’s premier dive, The Underworld to play not one but two nights back to back ensuring that every Thrash fan in the surrounding area will be treated to some of the best material out there. Sadly we weren’t able to attend both nights, however we were lucky enough to be able to see the band’s performance on June 24th at their second show. Kicking things off with the introduction from latest record, we saw the band ignite anticipation with the arrival of intro track “Black 13”, after the static beginning passed we saw the band and crowd burst into life for title track “Blood In, Blood Out”. Bodies positively pulsating at the vanguard of the front the relentless onslaught that these thrash Titans brought is truly monstrous.
With slightly older tracks like “Children Of A Worthless God” getting a great reception, it was old school classics like “Piranha” that got the band truly going. Irregardless of what kind of era singer we might have had when the song was written Souza delivers a fantastically charismatic performance. Before a devastating new anthem of “Salt The Wound” the frontman States that tonight the energy felt in the Underworld is reminiscent of Ruby’s Inn many many moons ago 1986 when Thrash was just beginning such is both the delivery of the band and the crowd itself.
Busy with another little known band that wrote some of the biggest metal anthems full stop Gary Holt is sadly not present for tonight’s fun and frolicking. However his replacement is more than fitting, hitting ever single note dead on, ensuring those viper like riffs still retain their venom. Stating that England in particular seems to have a soft spot for a certain list oriented song we’re then moved into a special rendition of “Black List” to which the maelstrom collectively lose all sense of being. Tying the evening off in brilliant fashion with the appearance of English Dogs guitarist Giz for a special rendition of “A Lesson In Violence” we entered the final stages of tonight’s festivities.
For the next section of the show everyone was transported back to the era of the classic Thrash handbook Bonded By Blood. Kicking things off with title track “Bonded By Blood” was devastating, though noting compared to “Toxic Waltz” where the crowd, used up all their reserves to create a wall of death that would intimidate Lamb Of God for a truly brutal rendition, tailing off with a grand finale of “Strike Of The Beast“. Tonight everything seemed to gel, from the word go the band were firing on all cylinders delivering a fast paced Attack that is exactly what Thrash should embody. With on point sound, ensuring that those riffs that anchor the classic songs and the new blood rang through along with Tom Huntings cymbals truly screaming it was a fantastic performance. It’s also worth noting that the band allowed the normally incredibly belligerent security to let people stage dive! They might have been around for an incredibly long time but tonight Exodus perform classic tracks with experience an older band would only have yet have the spirit even more spritely than the young whipper-snappers of today. A performance that could have the context of 1986 or thirty one years later in 2015, absolutely sublime.
