Tastes Like Rock Magazine

Exodus - Blood In, Blood Out

Thrash Metal

Nuclear Blast Records

Posted 12/2/14 3:39 PM ET

Tastes Like Rock - Exodus - Blood In Blood Out Review
Tastes Like Rock - Exodus - Blood In Blood Out Review
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Loud, abusive, and pissed off; just like every thrash album should be. Exodus is back with Blood In, Blood Out, and they are just hard and heavy as when they first came on the scene 30 years ago with ripping guitars, grinding bass, and skull splitting drums. Exodus seems to level up with every album, sounding more cohesive and unified with each passing year despite the changes in personnel over the years. The songs on Blood In, Blood Out are full of rage and a shit-ton of blood lust, and social commentary to boot; not in agreement with all of it but it's cool to see thrash metal trying to evoke thought and get listeners and fans talking and thinking about the world around them. Keeping people head banging and thrash dancing on top of that is just a bonus. Souza's vocals are razor sharp and rip through you like a combo of Bon Scott's raspy scream and Dave Mustaine's pitch, while the guitars of Holt and Atlus shred like they are thrash incarnate, and Gibson's bass and Hunting's drums pound like a sonic beating giving the rest of the band's sound not only it's backbone but also two giant fists of musical muscle.



Thrash isn't always my favorite type of metal, most of the time isn't, too many pointlessly repetitive songs that bleed into one another failing to display the musicians' talents; an unfortunate symptom of a glutted genre. While not exactly a mainstream flavor of metal, Thrash does swell to oversaturation in waves and then ebbs for a while as most other genres and subgenres of music do, but Exodus takes that BS and throws it out of the window, letting it fall to it's death on the ground below while doing their own thing with the metal flavor they call home. Pacing of the album is pretty typical for Thrash, hard and unrelenting, but not tiring.



Track List:

  1. Black 13
  2. Blood In, Blood Out
  3. Collateral Damage
  4. Salt The Wound
  5. Body Harvest
  6. BTK
  7. Wrapped In The Arms of Rage
  8. My Last Nerve
  9. Numb
  10. Honor Killings
  11. Food For The Worms


Choice cuts are the title track, "Wrapped In The Arms of Rage", and "Food For The Worms".



Exodus gets a 4 out of 5 for their tenth studio album; Blood In, Blood Out.



Exodus is Steve "Zetro" Souza (vocals), Gary Holt (guitars), Lee Atlus (guitars), Jack Gibson (bass), and Tom Hunting (drums). For more on Exodus check out www.exodusattack.com.



- Michael Meade