Photos/Review: Exodus @ House of Blues in Anaheim

Forty years is a long time for anything, and to be a band still together, bigger and better than ever, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of an album is a commendable achievement. Congratulations to bay area thrash legends Exodus as they just celebrated 40 years since the release of their groundbreaking debut Bonded by Blood (released April 25, 1985). To celebrate this occasion the band played two shows, the first on April 25 in their backyard of Berkeley, CA and the second on April 26 at House of Blues in Anaheim, CA. For the Anaheim show, fellow Bay Area thrashers Death Angel provided direct support along with Hirax and Nukem. This was sure to be a total rager and a night to soon not forget being the show was totally SOLD OUT for weeks.

Nukem kicked off the night with a high energy set that immediately ignited the crowd and the crowd surfing and circle pits started early and never let up. These thrashers pounded House of Blues with songs from The Unholy Trinity album and were the perfect band to kick off this night. Now Nukem doesn’t play live often as vocalist/lead guitarist Steve Brogden is pretty busy with his “day job” as Gary Holt’s guitar tech. The band ended their short set with the banger “Nukem All“.

Nukem

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

Long time SoCal thrash maestros, Hirax were up next, playing somewhat of a hometown show as they are from up the road from Anaheim in Cypress. Hirax has been throwing down since 1984, and frontman Katon W. De Pena is a true heavy metal warrior. The crowd surfing and mosh pit picked up right where they left off with Nukem only bigger and crazier. The band hit hard with “Black Smoke,” “Drill Into the Brain,” and Bombs of Death and De Pena dived into the crowd at least twice during their set, continuing to sing while being surfed around by the crowd. Hirax elevated the intensity inside the venue exponentially and proved they truly were a match made in hell to be part of this thrash celebration.

Hirax

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

Death Angel are not far behind Exodus in bay area legend status and they make perfect sense as direct openers for the mighty Exodus. Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda has been busy the last year now that he is also the vocalist for Kerry King’s band so it was totally awesome to see Death Angel onstage together for this show (they also played the night before in Berkeley).

Things got crazier and rowdier all through Death Angel’s set as they opened the show with two thrashing classics off the Ultra-Violence record, “Evil Priest” and “Voracious Souls.” Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar ripped some serious thrash riffs while Damien Sisson and Will Carroll on bass and drums, respectively, provide a solid foundation for the Death Angel thumping gallop. And, of course, Osegueda’s vocals are top-notch, with his voice as powerful as ever. He also likes to talk with the crowd in between songs and always thanks everyone for their support with sincerity, stating “they” (Death Angel) would not be onstage without the fans. The band ended their set with the hard-hitting “Thrown to the Wolves” from 2004’s The Art of Dying album. While the fans were bummed Death Angel’s set was over, the security in the pit area was thankful as they were super busy fielding crowd surfers the entire set.

Death Angel

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

Now, there has been a lot of action going on in the Exodus camp this year. First, it was recently announced that Steve “Zetro” Souza was no longer in the band and was replaced with former vocalist Rob Dukes. Next Gary Holt released his book Fabulous Disaster – From the Garage to Madison Square Garden the Hard Way, which allows Holt to tell his story from childhood to today . . . it is a fantastic read, well written and extremely captivating. Exodus released a new song, a cover of the Scorpions “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man” (with Mark Osegueda on vocals – more on this later), and finally, the Bonded by Blood anniversary shows – the first on April 25 which is the day Bonded by Blood was released and also the late Paul Baloff’s birthday. The second is what we are discussing here, April 26, in Anaheim.

The show kicked off at 9:45 pm, and a five-minute audio of Paul Baloff’s onstage banter played over the PA in honor of the original vocalist. The band then exploded onto the stage, opening with “Bonded by Blood,” and played the first five songs from that album to start the night. This was Rob Duke’s third show since re-joining Exodus and WOW, he is ferocious. Gary Holt played the first two songs with a re-built white Hondo Super Strat as a nod to the one he played back in the beginning of Exodus in the early 80’s. Holt remains one of the top-tier riff masters in thrash metal, as his tone is just crushing, especially on the newer songs. You could tell Holt was pumped up for this show as he was quite active onstage in between his riffing and solos.

Holt’s six-string partner, Lee Altus, is equally as vicious as Holt with the riffs as they traded off solos throughout the night. Jack Gibson provides the bass thunder, and Tom Hunting on drums is lightning in a bottle; he is just a machine. It was great to hear a few older songs such as “Pleasures of the Flesh” and “Brain Dead,” and since Exodus recently released a song with Mark Osegueda on vocals and he was in the house, why not play it . . . Dukes handed the mic to Osegueda and the band treated Anaheim to the live debut and possibly the ONLY time this will ever be played live of “He’s a Woman, She’s a Man” and it was awesome!

There were Exodus beach balls released into the crowd, the stage production was off the hook with lights everywhere, and a young kid (maybe 10 years old) got to play Lee Altus’ guitar, shredding face-to-face with Gary Holt. The night ended with “Strike of the Beast,” and somehow, the crowd was off the scale of craziness as the crowd surfing and huge circle pit was more active than at any point of the night.

Bonded by Blood is right up there with any of the debut albums from Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, or any other thrash metal band. This was an epic night of celebration, and you could feel the energy inside the House of Blues all night long. Exodus is now out on a short tour with Havok melting faces, and it all ends on May 17 at The Milwaukee Metal Fest.

Thank You, Gary Holt, for making this grand celebration of Bonded by Blood a reality and continuing to honor the late Paul Baloff (RIP). Also, a thank you to Steve “Zetro” Souza for all the great music and Exodus memories. And finally, welcome back, Rob Dukes!