Last month, Bay Area thrash icons Exodus unveiled their 12th studio album, Goliath. Marking their first record with vocalist Rob Dukes since 2010, the band’s debut on Napalm Records also serves as the follow-up to their highest-charting album to date.
Goliath is set to drop on March 20, 2026! Alongside the announcement, Exodus revealed the crushing opening track “3111”—whose video was deemed too intense for YouTube, forcing the band to release it exclusively on their own website.
Guitarist Gary Holt says about the video: “So here it is, time to share the full, uncensored version of the video for ‘3111’! If you put it in movie terminology, we have the PG, PG13, and with this one, the rate R version! With YouTube flagging what we consider the PG13 version repeatedly with threats of losing our page permanently, (which to be honest contains nothing you can’t find on YT already) we decided to really push it and include all the scenes we KNEW they would not allow! So here’s the full video, with its own website to view! Enjoy!”
Set around the drug war in Mexico’s Ciudad Juárez, sinister “3111” is an intense song showcasing not only EXODUS’ ever-increasing dynamic approach, even decades into their historic reign, but also their willingness to go exactly where it hurts. Therefore, the band spared no effort to make the video accessible to fans. A censored version is now up on YouTube, while a new website has been set up to show the merciless brutality of “3111” in its true form: https://exodus3111.com/
Emerging hungrier than ever in 2026, with Goliath, EXODUS reinforces their eternal foothold at the top of thrash metal’s hierarchy with 10 of their most diverse, anthemic emissions to date. Further fueled by the widely embraced return of iconic late-era frontman Rob Dukes—first appearing on 2005’s Shovel Headed Kill Machine—the album boasts what the band describes as the performance of his life. Goliath is EXODUS’ most collaborative record in their four decade-plus history, featuring songs written by several band members and guest contributions from Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain) and violinist Katie Jacoby.
Flurried dueling solos, an isolated bass excursion, rigorous drum dexterity and a blend of both gritty vocal passages and cutting chants combine to serve as yet another prime example of the band’s ever-evolving musical mastery.
Produced by Exodus, mixed and mastered by Mark Lewis (Whitechapel, Nile, Undeath), Goliath beams with the explosive authenticity that has set Exodus eons apart from their peers since the release of their debut, 1985’s groundbreaking thrash blueprint Bonded By Blood. 40 years later, Exodus are steadfast in their refusal to settle for the safety of mediocrity, fearing nothing and no one and continuing to forge their trademark just as resolutely as they did in their fruition.
