Album Review: Exodus - Goliath
Reviewed by Gareth Pugh
Let’s face facts, Exodus is as metal as it comes, co-founders of the thrash scene, together with Metallica, Dave Mustaine and over on the East Coast Overkill and Anthrax, and it’s extraordinary to think that over forty years have passed since ‘Bonded by Blood’ was released. Now they are about to release album number thirteen, with a new, yet familiar face up front, the return of Rob Dukes to the role of vocalist after the second and what looks to be the final departure of Steve "Zetro" Souza.
Now, I can’t say with any conviction, I’ve ever been the biggest fan of Rob Dukes’ vocals, and I consider him to be the least effective of the three vocalists they have had, with less charisma than either of his predecessors: Baloff or Zetro. However, I am pleased to say his performance on ‘Goliath’ is easily his best on an Exodus album so far, his usual aggression is tempered with more melody and even subtlety to give a more varied, nuanced and powerful performance.
Starting with a minute long ominous skin crawling intro ‘3111’ then plunges into all out thrash barrage with what could only be an archetypal Exodus riff, while Dukes spits out the uncomfortable lyrics, the song is about the narco killings in Juarez, and the title is the estimated number of murders for 2010 alone, bleak stuff! "Hostis Humani Generis" (enemy of mankind) is no shrinking violet either, riffs spewing left and right with no let-up in pace.
The first two tracks could easily have come from any Exodus album and ease you into the fray with no shocks in earshot, but for the next three tracks the band mix things up somewhat, ‘The Changing Me’ is more mid-paced, but it’s the chorus with Peter Tägtgren’s clean vocals mixing with Rob’s more vicious delivery that catches you off guard with its jarring ‘against the grain’ timing. ‘Promise You This’ has a bit of a southern rock groove to it, but with a contemporary feel, and the chorus is extremely catchy, honestly it will be stuck in your head for days.
The title-track is another more experimental song, the band has dabbled with slower tempos previously, for example ‘Prescribing Horror’ from the last album, but this slows things down to a menacing crawl, with Jack Gibsons bass providing a pulverising low end, and the guitars a doom like sludge, the chorus lifts the despair with some serpentine leads before an astonishing mid-section with guest strings from Katie Jacoby, a surprise all around and a real grower. ‘Beyond The Event Horizon’ brings things back to normal as it picks up the pace with a more conventional structure, while ‘2 Minute Hate’ is another one with a bluesy swagger to it with plenty of groove, yet still has plenty of attack.
‘Summon of the God Unknown’ is an 8-minute epic full of crushing chords and fiddly melodies, it takes the listener on a roller-coaster journey and gradually builds pace from brooding menace to a sudden adrenaline rush of pummelling frenzied riffage. Finishing the album on a real thrash high note is ‘The Dirtiest Of The Dozen’ which reminds me of ‘Tempo of the Damned’ title track with a punchy chorus and more piledriving riffs.
This is easily the most varied Exodus album to date and hats off to them for their bravery at this stage of their career. Is it perfect, hell no some of the songs still could do with some trimming of the fat shall we say, but on the whole, this is a damn fine album, and possibly their most consistent for a decade or more. On this evidence there’s still plenty of ‘good friendly violent fun’ for everyone for many more years to come.
