Celebrating the 40th anniversary of their groundbreaking album Bonded By Blood and the birthday weekend of their late singer Paul Baloff, thrash metal icons Exodus delivered a memorable first night of two special performances at the UC Theatre in Berkeley, California this past Friday.
The show included a full rendition of Bonded By Blood and a selection of other Baloff-era classics, such as “Hell’s Breath,” “Warlord,” “Impaler,” “Pleasures Of The Flesh,” and “Brain Dead.” The evening was made even more significant by the guest appearances of guitarist Rick Hunolt, a key member of the band’s “H-Team” and co-writer of many iconic songs, and original bassist Jeff Andrews.
Setlist for the show was as follows:
setlist for last night’s concert was as follows:
01. Bonded By Blood
02. Exodus
03. And Then There Were None
04. A Lesson In Violence
05. Metal Command
06. Pleasures Of The Flesh
07. Brain Dead (with Rick Hunolt)
08. Piranha (with Rick Hunolt)
09. Happy Birthday To You (Mildred J. Hill & Patty Hill cover) (for Paul Baloff)
10. Deliver Us To Evil (with Rick Hunolt)
11. No Love
12. Strike Of The Beast
Encore:
13. Hell’s Breath
14. Warlord (with Jeff Andrews)
15. Impaler
Dukes officially marked his return to the stage with Exodus on April 5th at the Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest in Philadelphia, playing his first full concert with the band in nearly 11 years.
The vocalist position in Exodus has seen notable changes over the decades. Souza initially fronted the band from 1986 until their 1993 hiatus, and again from 2002 to 2004. Dukes joined in 2005 following Souza‘s second departure, recording four studio albums with the band: Shovel Headed Kill Machine (2005), The Atrocity Exhibition… Exhibit A (2007), the Bonded By Blood re-recording Let There Be Blood (2008), and Exhibit B: The Human Condition (2010). Souza then rejoined Exodus in 2014, replacing Dukes, and remained until the recent split announced in January.
Exodus‘s latest studio album, Persona Non Grata, was released in November 2021. While often discussed outside the traditional “Big Four” of thrash, their 1985 debut Bonded By Blood remains a landmark release, widely credited with influencing countless bands, including fellow Bay Area titans Testament, Death Angel, and Vio-lence, and is considered a cornerstone of the thrash metal genre.
Writer and extreme metal devotee, Ialdagorth has spent over a decade covering the darkest corners of heavy music. A black metal lifer, he spends his free time wandering the Carpathian Mountains, likely humming blast beats to the trees.
