One of the original, and best, Bay Area Thrash bands. Their first album was called "Bonded by Blood" and had Paul Baloof barking out the vocals. They soon kicked him out and added Steve Souza to take over vocal duties and they then created two of the greatest thrash discs ever. Ah, I'm getting ahead of myself, so read on...
Exodus-Bonded by Blood 1985
1."Bonded
by Blood" (3:49)
2."Exodus" (4:02)
3."And Then There Were None" (4:36)
4."A Lesson in Violence" (3:46)
5."Metal Command" (4:10)
6."Piranha" (3:42)
7."No Love" (5:04)
8."Deliver Us to Evil" (7:02)
9."Strike of the Beast" (3:54)
10. "And Then There Were None" -live (4:52)
11. "A Lesson in Violence" -live (3:26)
I don't really care for the ridiculous "we're so evil" lyrics of "Bonded by Blood" nor am I thrilled with the thin as a dime production. Of note, Metallica's Kirk Hammett has some writing credits on this one as he was a band member before Exodus signed with Combat Records. In any case, Exodus soon booted out their lead singer and replaced him with Steve Sousa. However, "Bonded by Blood" was a decent lead up to "Pleasures of the Flesh." My copy is from Russia, so I have no idea what the record company is as everything is written in Russian. Contains two live bonus tracks with Steve Souza on vocals. This is not the original cover, however, I never really cared for the rather silly evil siamese twins cover.
Exodus-Pleasures of the Flesh (Combat) 1987
1."Deranged"
(3:45)
2."'Til Death Do Us Part" (4:49)
3."Parasite" (4:54)
4."Brain Dead" (4:15)
5."Faster Than You'll Ever Live to Be" (4:25)
6."Pleasures of the Flesh" (7:35)
7."30 Seconds"-instrumental (0:39)
8."Seeds of Hate" (4:58)
9."Chemi-Kill" (5:45)
10."Choose Your Weapon" (4:52)
The '97 Exodus reformation of nearly all the "Bonded By Blood" lineup put a lot of focus on the original Exodus album and generally ignored and even snubbed all the Exodus efforts made afterwards with vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza (the former Legacy/Testament singer who replaced Paul Baloff). I am here to tell you that Exodus' best discs are "Pleasures of the Flesh" and "Fabulous Disaster." Both are thrash classics! Both define the very words "thrash metal!" "Pleasures of the Flesh" is one of the best thrash discs to come out of the Bay Area movement. "Brain Dead," ""Parasite" and "Choose Your Weapon" have killer riffs that will cave in your skull. Steve Souza has a cool snake like hiss that is a bit whiney, but fit the Exodus bill perfectly.
Exodus-Fabulous Disaster (Combat) 1989
1."The
Last Act of Defiance" (4:40)
2."Fabulous Disaster" (4:53)
3."The Toxic Waltz" (4:48)
4."Low Rider" (2:43)
5."Cajun Hell" (6:03)
6."Like Father, Like Son" (8:35)
7."Corruption" (5:43)
8."Verbal Razors" (4:04)
9."Open Season" (3:51)
10."Overdose" (3:51)
A speed
metal/thrash masterpiece from these Bay Area thrashers. I loved this disc when
I first heard it and it still sounds good today. Of course "Toxic Waltz"
is one of those songs that makes you want to mosh around the room. The lyrics
are much improved as well; gone are the stupid "evil" lyrics. New
themes ranging from prison riots to child abuse, with the exception of "Toxic
Waltz" which is just plain funny. "Lowrider," a War tune,
is very cool, very heavy, and pretty humerous. "Overdose" is an AC/DC
tune.
Exodus-Impact is Imminent (Capitol) 1990
1."Impact
is Imminent" (4:20)
2."A.W.O.L." (5:43)
3."The Lunatic Parade" (4:12)
4."Within the Walls of Chaos" (7:44)
5."Objection Overruled" (4:34)
6."Only Death Decides" (6:05)
7."Heads They Win (Tails You Lose)" (7:41)
8."Changing of the Guard" (6:48)
9."Thrash Under Pressure" (2:41)
Exodus signs to a big label and put out another fine thrash metal opus. OK, perhaps it's not exactly up to the standards of the last two, but "Only Death Decides" comes extremely close to the bands' former greatness. "Thrash Under Pressure" is a fun little ditty that makes a statement about Exodus staying true to their style. "Changing of the Guard," a song about atrocities going on in Romania, is a cool speed metal tune as well. Somewhere around this time Capital released a pcd single for "The Lunatic Parade" with the unreleased track "Good Morning" as a b-side. Have never seen it but have read about it.
Exodus-Good Friendly Violent Fun (Century Media) 1991
1."Fabulous
Disaster" (5:45)
2."Chemi-Kill" (6:08)
3."'Til Death Do Us Part" (5:06)
4."Toxic Waltz" (4:39)
5."Cajun Hell" (5:55)
6."Corruption" (5:37)
7."Brain Dead" (4:31)
8."Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" (4:42)
A rare little live offering. The sound quality isn't bad at all and the performance is tight, which makes this one of the better live thrash offerings. "Dirty Deeds" is an AC/DC cover. A friend from Germany picked this one up for me -- nice guy I'll tell ya.
Exodus-Force of Habit (Capitol) 1992
1."Thorn
in My Side" (4:04)
2."Me, Myself & I" (5:02)
3."Force of Habit" (4:17)
4."Bitch" (2:45)
5."Fuel for the Fire" (6:02)
6."One Foot in the Grave" (5:12)
7."Count Your Blessings" (7:28)
8."Climb Before the Fall" (5:36)
9."Architect of Pain" (10:58)
10."When it Rains it Pours" (4:18)
11."Good Day to Die" (4:46)
12."Pump it Up" (3:08)
13."Feeding Time at the Zoo" (4:32)
Everybody I know hated this album. I'm not exactly sure why as this disc doesn't suck. I will say that this disc pales a bit in comparison to the last three. There are a few choice cuts on here; the ten minute epic "Architect of Pain" and the cool Elvis Costello cover "Pump it Up." There is also a Rolling Stones cover ("Bitch") which I don't care for as much.
Exodus broke up shortly after the release of this album but reformed a few years later with original singer Paul Baloof and put out a new live album called "Another Lesson in Violence." I've not heard the whole thing, but the MP3's I've heard actually sounded pretty darn good. For some stupid reason they focused on songs from their first album with only a few cuts from "Pleasures of the Flesh." Geez, they could have at least done "Toxic Waltz!" Anyhow, I'll have to keep an eye open for that one.
Exodus-Another Lesson in Violence (Century Media) 1997
1. "Bonded
by Blood" (3:34)
2. "Exodus" (4:29)
3. "Pleasures of the Flesh" (8:15)
4. "And Then There Were None" (5:58)
5. "Piranha" (5:42)
6. "Seeds of Hate" (5:59)
7. "Deliver Us to Evil" (8:29)
8. "Brain Dead" (5:22)
9. "No Love" (6:41)
10. "Lesson in Violence" (5:57)
11. "Impaler" (6:08)
12. "Strike of the Beast" (9:18)
This disc was recorded on March 8th,1997 at a reunion show at the Trocadero, San Fransisco, CA. The band is back to it's original lineup minus original bassist Geoff Andrews and guitarist Kirk Hammet, who was probably tied up with his buddies fighting Napster and playing gigs at Music Awards Ceremonies. "Another Lesson in Violence" sounds amazingly live and raw, and contains fast and furious renditions of the band's early classics, screw-ups, dropped sticks, broken strings and all. Unfortunately, the band mainly played material from their debut "Bonded By Blood", the only to feature original (canned) vocalist Paul Baloff. There are also three tracks from their excellent sophomore album "Pleasures of the Flesh" all of which were co-written by Baloff before his abrupt dismissal. As an added bonus, the band even resurrects a never recorded early track co-written by Hammet called "Impaler." The sound quality is quite amazing for a live album, and certainly sounds better than "Bonded By Blood," if not better than most of their catalogue. Baloff's voice sounds pretty good, but I wish he would buy a dictionary and improve his vocabulary a bit. I swear the guy can't say three words without inserting the word "f**k." I must also say, I was disappointed not to hear "Toxic Waltz." Perhaps some think this song is cheesy, I think it's an awesome song and certainly an Exodus trademark. Besides this, the only thing that could have made this disc better was an appearance by Steve Sousa. Now that would have been cool. My digi-pak version was sent straight from Germany and contains a poster printout of the flyer from the show.