Reviewed - 11/20/05

Shovel Headed Kill Machine
[Nuclear Blast]

I've never been much of a fan of thrash metal, outside of early Metallica and Slayer, but it is impossible to doubt the power and influence of Exodus. Despite the lamentable fact that I've never owned an Exodus album until receiving their latest onslaught in the mail, I have been aware of these forefathers of thrash since 1998, when I was blown away by their live rendition of "Piranha" on the Century Media compilation "Identity IV." I have since acquired an mp3 or two of other Exodus material (including the thoroughly-enjoyable "Toxic Waltz"), but it wasn't until this month that I realized just how amazing Exodus truly are. It's a pity that it took "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" to show me what I have been missing these past years.

This is tight technical thrash, every bit as punky and attitude-driven as 80's thrash but with vastly improved sound quality and musical ability. Everyone on "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" is an amazing musician, far greater than I was expecting (a sad statement, but nonetheless true). Drummer Paul Bostaph is amazing, ripping out blasting double bass and complex snare and tom patterns with equal abandon, yet dropping into basic thrash percussion just as easily. Guitarists Lee Altus and founder Gary Holt do a fantastic job of combining traditional and creative riff-writing, and bassist Jack Gibson does a great job of keeping up, even boasting a few shining moments of his own during the course of "Shovel Headed Kill Machine." And new vocalist Rob Dukes is pleasantly harsh yet classically thrashy - as already mentioned I am not the most versed of Exodus fans, but Dukes certainly seems to fit in with what little I have heard from Paul Baloff and Steve Souza.

I once posed a question on a certain online heavy metal forum regarding the existence of 'epic thrash.' I would certainly consider many of the songs appearing on this album as contenders for such a title. My personal favorite track is "Deathamphetamine," an eight-plus minute ass-kicking in auditory form. With a ninety-second intro, this track pulls out all the thrash stops: punk percussion, rhythmic changes, venomous vocals, high-speed train riffs… it's beautiful. This is thrash as sophisticated as late 80's Metallica but with more energy and aggression, with more anger and violence and far less pretension. Two other tracks pass the seven-minute mark or come damn close - "Altered Boy" and "44 Magnum Opus." Both songs are far longer than your average thrash tune but remain dense with mosh pit brutality. It is obvious that Exodus are a band that prefer to pack it all in rather than stretching it all out. Yet the album closes with a title track that doesn't even take three minutes to utter forth, proof that they are equally unafraid to end a song when it needs to end, letting the music itself dictate track length.

"Shovel Headed Kill Machine" is far more diverse than I would have expected from a thrash album, especially one as long-term as Exodus. Most songs are high-octane and rapid-fire, but Exodus aren't afraid to slow things down for a more methodical killing - "Shudder to Think," for example. And throughout it all, the band never strays from a basic thrash sound. Not for a moment. But they keep things interesting for the 50+ minutes that "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" takes to beat you into a pulp and then come to an end.

Once again, I find myself in the unfortunate position of being blown away by an album far into the career of a long-lasting metal band, loving what I hear but unable to determine whether it is better or worse than that which has come before. What I am certain of, however, is that "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" is a strong thrash metal album, with some deathier aspects that make me think of the Haunted, a band with which I am far more familiar. I am certain that, despite a chaotic past fraught with lineup changes and years in hiatus, Exodus has retained validity and respectability in the modern metal world. And I am certain that any thrash fan reading this review is going to love this disc. As for me, I see a great many other Exodus albums joining "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" on my shelf in the near future.