SF Bay Area thrash metal and the name Exodus go hand in hand, and quite truly to me, have become the kings of Thrash over the last two decades as they consistently have released some of the best albums, staying true to who they are at their core through two singers and Gary pulling an insane double duty for more than a decade with Slayer.
As we wander aimlessly into the abyss that are the holidays, Exodus brought their current “North American Disaster” tour featuring younger thrash favorites HAVOK as well as Candy and Dead Heat along for the ride as they stormed into the UC Theatre in Berkeley, CA on a chilly Friday night in the bay for the second to last show on the tour (which should have been the last show, but that’s neither here nor there.) I walked in just as Dead Heat was ending their set (an unfortunate outcome of Bay Area traffic), and caught Candy, who was definitely a different pace and really did a nice job setting the chaos up in the pit that would ensue during Havok.
Then as Havok came on, as they do, they walked right on stage and ripped into ‘Point of No Return’, and banged through other fan favorites like‘Hang ‘Em High’, ‘Prepare for Attack’ and ‘From the Cradle to the Grave,’ the entire time start to finish, bodies were flying over the barrier and Havok got the sold out crowd moving in the iconic circle pit that encompassed the entire floor it seemed like. As they exited and the Havok banner dropped, only about twenty minutes later, the lights dimmed and I couldn’t hear myself think over the screams from the crowd awaiting the chaos along with other Bay Area thrash legends standing in VIP.
Suddenly, in the screams, we see Exodus drummer Tom Hunting, as per usual stand behind his kit screaming back at the audience, sit down and blast right into ‘The Last Act of Defiance’, and in a very powerful set that included a healthy mix of their entire catalog of Baloff, Zetro and Dukes, they played songs I’ve been dying to hear them play live for some time (but would still really like to hear more from Temp of the Damned at some point.)
Through the first three songs shooting up front, during ‘Blood in, Blood Out,’ I could feel the photo pit empty out a bit as the chaos ensued and body after body flew over the railing, one kicking me in the back of the head and another trying to finish his pit action by hitting me trying to get me to move. Luckily for me, I came up shooting from mosh pits and dealing with bodies and elbows and fists flying all around while I shot, and as third song ‘Fabulous Disaster’ was ending and I had to exit the photo barrier, and battling bodies flying, they ripped right into ‘And Then There Were None,” making it even more difficult to exit.
All in all, with Zetro only speaking in length at one time to talk with the crowd about how special the fans are in the bay, Exodus played hit after hit after hit and even a few deeper cuts like ‘Cajun Hell’, but ending on ‘War is My Shepherd’, ‘The Toxic Waltz’, and ‘Strike of the Beast,’ showing exactly why Exodus has been able to revitalize themselves and become the kings they’ve become over the last twenty years or so. Absolute relentless chaos from start to finish, yet polished and mature.
