Retro album of the month: april 2014 - Exodus "Bonded By Blood"

Hey everyone!

This month's retro album of the month should be no suprise to any of you. I thought of this album because of the huge influence it has had on me for my entire life. Hell, the song "Metal Command" was a big inspiration for the name of my show! Exodus has become my favorite thrash metal band of all time and I would rank Gary Holt in my top 10 list of favorite guitar players. I have always loved his style of songwriting and playing. Probably one of the most underrated guys out there in the metal scene.

I remember first buying this album when I was a freshman in high school back in 1993. I found it used for 2 bucks! Can you believe that? I guess since the grunge scene had taken full force a lot of people didn't like metal anymore.

This is one of those records that I would put in a list called "Top 10 albums that changed my life" because it did just that. At the time I was a big Metallica fan, especially the early stuff. When I heard this album I ended up listening to it for hours. I Absolutely loved it! I had found my calling as a thrash metal fan. It also made me explore the other great bay area bands such as Megadeth, Testament, Forbidden and many more!

Although Steve Zetro Sousa is probably my favorite thrash metal vocalist of all time I definitely love the brutality that Paul Baloff brings to this album. I mean the guy may not be the best thrash metal vocalist out there but the anger, brutality and passion are there. This guy just brings it on this album. The guitar duo of Holt and Hunolt just owns. The one thing that always amazes me is that even though I have always believed Exodus to be a band that has gotten overlooked too many times, you see many metal bands especially the extreme metal bands talking about how influential this album was.

So here it is, my tribute to one of the greatest thrash metal albums of all time! Exodus sure brings the goods with this album which I consider to be a timeless masterpiece!

-Tony Webster 4/25/2014

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