Exodus "Tempo of the Damned" CD
[Nuclear Blast]
I have to say, when I heard that Exodus was back in action recording their first studio outing since 1992's "Force of Habit", I was skeptical. I'm a diehard 80's thrash fanatic, and continued supporting many of those bands (including Exodus) into the 90's as the scene declined. But this is a good record. Sure, it has its faults, and it's no "Bonded by Blood" or "Fabulous Disaster", but it's far more consistent than "Force of Habit" was. Sure, "Force..." had some killer tracks, but thankfully you won't hear any fucking ridiculous Rolling Stones or Elvis Costello cover songs on this one, and even though it's still a bit long, there's not half as much filler here as there was in 1992. The biggest "filler" issue here isn't even bad songs so much as it is overly long songs. There's really no reason why a good chunk of these songs need to run more than six or seven minutes. Opener "Scar Spangled Banner", for example, is a good enough song, but 6:41 in running time? It could easily stand to have a couple of minutes shaved off its frame. "Blacklist" makes better use of its 6+ minutes by employing a generally forceful chugging tempo that has more of a classic late-80's thrash vibe, complete with an unforgettable chorus that sounds like it would've been right at home on "Impact is Imminent" (and I fucking love that record). Of course one of the highlights of this disc for any fan of thrash or 80's metal is the wealth of solos, as this kind of shredding isn't so common these days - least of all from tradeoff specialists like Holt and Hunolt (the god damn H Team, folks)! "Forward March" is another awesome track with tons of token Exodus riffs as well as some really creative uses of dark clean arpeggios layered against distorted rhythms, granted some of rhythmic vocal patterns are a little much (bordering on the hip-hoppish), and the nearly eight-minute running time is indeed excessive as a whole. "Sealed With a Fist" and especially "Throwing Down" have a few more rocked out sort of southern tinges to a couple of core rhythms, but "Impaler" is one of the true highlights - a re-recording of an identifiably ancient track from the band (never before released on a studio recording, and apparently co-written by Kirk Hammett in his early days with Exodus). Production wise the only thing that irritates me is that the drums are way too damn rigid and sort of machinated in tone. Most of the cymbals sound alright, but the kicks and the snare are really lacking in density and have no natural aesthetics at all. But you can hear the bass, the vocals sound good, I like the mix, and the guitar tone is crisply heavy with that unusual (and seemingly inimitable) bite that Exodus has always achieved in that department. The jewel case is housed in a nice embossed sleeve, and the layout has been fairly well handled, though I'm not sure I can make much sense of what I view as relatively goofy cover art (conceptually). I'm not that interested in the lyrics which are fairly typical, at times with a hint of sarcasm, but it's cool that a lot of the songs have a serious message attacking religion, war, domestic violence, etc. So, while I'm not floored by this, it's damn good for what it is, and it could be far, far worse. I'm sure there are a lot of fans who gave up on Exodus in 1987 that will have no interest in this, but those like myself who followed the band through to the end should find a few areas of interest here. I like it. (7/10)
Running time - 54:21, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: War is My Shepherd, Blacklist, Impaler, Tempo of the Damned]
Exodus - http://www.exodusattack.com

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