Bay Area thrash metal legends Exodus are gearing up for the release of their 12th studio album, Goliath, officially arriving next Friday, March 20. Ahead of the highly anticipated launch, guitarist Gary Holt made an appearance on Loudwire Nights with host Chuck Armstrong to discuss the band’s massive creative streak, their enduring motivation, and his recent experience honoring heavy metal royalty.
Speaking on the drive that continues to push the band forward four decades into their career, Holt explained that a lingering sense of being underappreciated serves as their ultimate fuel.
“Exodus carries the world’s biggest chip on our shoulders — and it works to our advantage. We’re never satisfied. The world’s against us and everybody looks down on us…we feel we don’t get the credit. We’ve had years of self-inflicted damage and dysfunction, but it keeps us motivated to prove ourselves,” he said (via Loudwire).
That relentless motivation translated into what the guitarist describes as the most collaborative and productive recording session of their career.
“I’m biased, obviously, but in our 60s, we’re making some of our best music. Who says you have to mail it in? If you f**king love what you’re doing and you’re still motivated to explore new avenues in what you do, there’s no limit … I can’t stop.”
In fact, the sessions for Goliath were so explosive that the band ended up recording the vast majority of their next album simultaneously.
“We recorded 80-percent of the follow-up. We just worked like two months. We live in a house together and we just write all day. When we’re not in the studio, we’re still writing, guitars and drums everywhere. We went in with like four songs done and recorded 18. We were experiencing an explosion of creativity. I’m super proud of this album.”
While there is currently no timeline for when fans might hear the follow-up project, Holt expressed relief in having so much material already in the vault.
“Our goal was to finish it because we are getting older — finishing it and having it ready to go reduces time spent creating it,” he said regarding new album Goliath. “By the time we get around to finishing the next one, Lee [Altus] and I’ll write another 10 songs. It’s just the way it is. There’s worse problems to have than have really killer, unreleased music.”
However, having a surplus of high-quality tracks did lead to some difficult decisions regarding the final tracklist for Goliath.
“I still have full on anxiety over which songs we didn’t put on this album,” Holt admitted. “This s**t is that good. It’s not like we picked the 10 best and ignored the others. Some of the strongest s**t we ever wrote, we set aside … Most of my best solos that I personally like happen to be on songs on the next record.”
During the interview, the conversation also shifted to the guitarist’s recent live experiences, including playing massive stages with Slayer and participating in the recent “Back to the Beginning” farewell concert. The star-studded event paid homage to Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, an experience that left a lasting impact on the veteran musician.
“It’s still kind of a pinch me kind of thing that I was able to be a part of honoring a guy who I’d seen live so many times before I ever played guitar. Just being there, all the musicians were all reduced to fanboys,” he recalled.
“I went down to watch, I think it was Tool, and there’s [James] Hetfield, who I hadn’t seen in a long time, and he’s behind my amps. So the first thing I do is go up and go, ‘Hey, don’t f**k with them amps.’ And he goes, ‘I’m dialing in some low mids for you.’ And then watching Tool, I never met Adam Jones, but he came over to fist bump me. I feel like that means a lot, it’s just kind of an acknowledgement of, ‘Thanks for coming down and watching it.’ I tried to watch everybody I could … The camaraderie around everybody paying homage to Ozzy and Black Sabbath was remarkable.”
Reflecting on the most powerful moment of the tribute, Holt pointed to the touching display of brotherhood during one of the most iconic ballads in heavy metal history.
“The Ozzy part was more moving because the songs. ‘Mama I’m Coming Home‘, man. Zakk [Wylde] knowing that he had to help him out vocally and just moving everything over to get to the mic, it was just, it’s awesome. It’s just the show of love and support for a guy who gave so much. I mean, come on, what can you say? It was just, it was incredible. I still get goosebumps.”
Goliath was produced by Exodus themselves and mixed and mastered by Mark Lewis (Whitechapel, Nile, Undeath), delivering a sound that balances modern precision with the raw intensity that has defined the band since Bonded By Blood reshaped thrash metal in 1985.
Goliath track listing:
- “3111”
- “Hostis Humani Generis”
- “The Changing Me” (feat. Peter Tägtgren)
- “Promise You This”
- “Goliath” (feat. Katie Jacoby)
- “Beyond The Event Horizon”
- “2 Minutes Hate”
- “Violence Works”
- “Summon Of The God Unknown”
- “The Dirtiest Of The Dozen”
