A Lesson in Violence: How Exodus Keeps Thrashing After Forty Years

The best way to start a long-winded debate with a metalhead is by asking them who they’d put in their personal Big Four. The most commonly accepted Mount Rushmore of thrash bands features some of the biggest acts: Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax.

But when it comes to thrash, there is one Bay Area crew that many – this writer included – believe should have taken its rightful place on the metal pedestal a long time ago: Exodus.

If we’re going to split hairs, which we will for the sake of nerding out, Exodus could be considered the very first thrash band after four high school buddies, including Kirk Hammett (yes, he started out in Exodus before joining Metallica in 1983), got together to jam in 1979.

Now, 45 years later, drummer Tom Hunting is the last remaining original member. But he’s never been too worried about where Exodus falls in the pecking order or which band did what first. To be fair, history has been kind to Exodus and its lasting impact, and some have taken to expanding the Big Four by doubling it to the Big Eight and placing Exodus, Testament, Overkill and Death Angel in the same company as the aforementioned bands. Still, as Hunting sees it, it’s all gravy.

“I mean, it took a while for all these labels and subgenres to even exist. To me it’s always just been metal,” he shares, adding that it wasn’t necessarily a conscious decision to spawn a new, frantic style of extreme music, either.

“Metallica? Metal. Slayer? Metal. Exodus? Metal. The thrash name tag came along way later,” Hunting continues. “But it really did sound like there was a Bay Area style of metal that happened. It was different from L.A. metal [Slayer’s home turf]. Slayer is a whole different thing. Slayer is just scary fucking Satanic shit. And it’s heavy as shit. It creates a mood and makes you want to go, ‘Ahhh!’

“Our metal makes you want to scream and dance crazy and punch people, I guess, while you’re dancing. It’s kind of a punk-rock thing, too.”

For good reason, too. The group’s 1985 debut, Bonded by Blood, featuring late vocalist Paul Baloff, is a razor-sharp master class in thrash, with songs that have become headbanging anthems over the past four decades, particularly the title track, “Piranha” and “Strike of the Beast.” In all, the Exodus catalogue spans eleven records, including 1989 standout Fabulous Disaster with its MTV hit and fan favorite “The Toxic Waltz,” which has become an unofficial moshing theme song and always gets a “positive crowd response,” as Hunting can experience from behind the kit.

“Crowd reaction is all of this, dude. It means everything. That’s what keeps it relevant,” he adds. “We try to keep them happy.”

Hunting, longtime guitarist Gary Holt (the only Exodus member to appear on every album), inveterate vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza, bassist Jack Gibson and guitarist Lee Altus continue to keep the shovel-headed kill machine rolling. Exodus released its latest album, Persona Non Grata, in 2021 and shared a 1989 live album, British Disaster: The Battle of ’89 (Live at The Astoria), earlier this year. Plus, just this month the group dropped “Beating Around the Bush,” an AC/DC cover.

Exodus is currently on a headlining trek, too, that includes a Denver date on Monday, November 11, at the Ogden Theatre. Local thrashers Havok, Candy and Dead Heat are also on the bill.

Hunting hints at a set list filled with deep cuts but stops just short of giving anything away.

“We’re reaching deeper into the playbook and pulling out stuff that people haven’t heard for a while. People can expect some surprises in what they hear,” he says. “It’s really hard, because there are eleven records to pick from.”

But he does dive into some specifics when asked about the Exodus secret sauce, a recipe he and Holt came up with and perfected after the face-melting guitarist joined in 1981, by sharing an unlikely metaphor.

“It’s been the same the whole time, pretty much. It starts with a guitar riff, then two guys in the room, guitars and drums, and we hash it out. Gary and me have been playing music together since we were learning how to play instruments. All of that happens organically,” Hunting explains. “I look at it like when you’re creating songs, you’re building a sandwich. The drums are the bread that hold the meat together. The riffs are the meat, the main protein in the sandwich. Then the vocals are definitely the cheese.”

He laughs at the last part, but he never imagined Exodus would still be teaching such a lesson in violence, even through several lineup changes and a pair of brief hiatuses over the years.

“If you would have asked me as nineteen-year-old when we were first touring, I would be like, ‘Yeah, 2024, I probably won’t make it that far,’ living at the current rate of acceleration we were enjoying back in those days,” he shares.

“I’m thankful for the journey. As a younger man, it was more about the party and the scene. Now it’s about the journey. We’re in a good place.”

Exodus, with Havok, Candy and Dead Heat, 7 p.m. Monday, November 11, Ogden Theatre, 935 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $43.