Album Review: Exodus – Persona Non Grata

Album Review: Exodus - Persona Non Grata
Reviewed by Matthew Williams

There’s an excitable feeling that you get in your bones, when a band that you really, really, love announces the release date of their new album. The adrenalin pumps when you hear that first new single released, whetting the appetite for the headbanging masses, and after seeing them in March 2020 as part of the energy busting, mosh pit mayhem induced Bay Area Strikes Back tour the anticipation is at an all-time high for the latest release from thrashers Exodus.

With all time living legend Gary Holt back full time in the band after his journeys with Slayer, he and Tom Hunting headed up to Tom’s house in the mountains with a half stack and a drum kit, to begin the process of writing the 12 songs that grace this new thrashtastic album. And they have delivered some absolute classics that will have the masses salivating when they hear the carefully crafted riffs and the distinctive vocal style of Souza bellowing out.

The album touches on themes of modern societal disgust, degradation, and the general divisiveness in the world, and starts off with the title track 'Persona Non Grata' which begins with a spell binding riff that really kicks the song into shape, before Zetro’s vocals pierce your eardrums, making you sit up and pay attention to the lyrics, whilst asking you to come up with your own meanings. The riffs are mean and bountiful, the song is 7.30 minutes long, but doesn’t feel dragged out, instead it’s an audible treat.

'REMF' continues the impressive start to the album, with an opening salvo to rival anything else on the album, and then we get a cracking riff from Holt halfway through, that is just brilliant, and the sort that you can’t wait to hear live. The whole song just goes along at such a rapid pace that the enjoyment seems to be over too quickly. Bit no sooner does that end, that the 'Slipping into Madness' begins, with a slowish start, before Souza takes complete control of the song, spitting out venom, before another epic guitar solo hits you square in the guts. It's glorious, and you just don’t want it to stop.

The next two songs 'Elitist' and 'Prescribing Horror' continue the theme of being excellently crafted, songs, that are both heavy and fierce, with the latter, being more intense, with some slowed downed riffs as Souza emphasises “suffer in silence” whilst being “all in the name of science”, its bordering on evil, with the spoken work section quite chilling.

The next time I see Exodus, I’m expecting the biggest pit of their set to be for 'The Beatings will Continue (Until Morale Improves)' as its inspired by riots and it sounds like all hell has broken loose, it’s fast, short, just over 3 minutes long, and intense, with a riff that lends itself to utter chaos and mayhem, all whilst being very tongue in cheek. This is followed by 'The Years of Death and Dying' which carries on the Exodus tradition of great riffs and awesome bass playing from Jack Gibson, before 'Clickbait' breaks out of the speaker and demands your attention. Intense drums from Tom Hunting are the hallmark of this song, as they target their anger towards the journalistic dishonesty of CNN and Fox. It has some extraordinary speed, whilst also having catchy choruses, a sure-fire winner with the metal community.

'Cosa Del Pantano' is a short flamenco inspired acoustic interlude, which leads perfectly into 'Lunatic-Liar-Lord' before normal heavy as fuck riffage is continued. This song proves that you don’t have to front load the album with all the hits, as its as good an anything on the album, with all band members showcasing their talents to prove that Exodus clearly are more than just Gary Holt and some hired hands.

The final two songs begin with 'The Fires of Division' and this is just intense from the outset, and easily could have been the opening track. The chugging riff is just beautiful and is another stand out wannabe hit single before final track 'Antiseed'wraps things up with a 6-minute masterclass in what Exodus are all about. Slow, intense build up, rumbling bass line, then monstrous riffs break through crushing all before it.

This has left me quite breathless, as like many other bands, Exodus have a reputation to live up to having delivered some classic thrash albums in the past, but this lives up to the hype and is just superb from start to finish. All hail, Exodus are back and ready to thrash!