Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Exodus
Label: Century Media
Release: 1985
A little over five years ago, Paul Baloff, the legendary vocalist of the cult Bay Area thrashers Exodus, suffered a massive stroke. On January 31, 2002, he was brought to the hospital where he was declared brain dead, and at his family’s request, life support was switched off on February 2. This review is dedicated to Baloff.
This year marks 27 years since the founding of one of the cornerstone bands of the thrash metal movement. It was launched in 1980 by Tom Hunting and Kirk Hammet (we all know where he ended up later). Even though the band, demo from 1982 aside, never put out any official recording with Hammet, there’s still some material on the debut Bonded By Blood that he wrote. The album’s first title was A Lesson in Violence, but they never found a cover that fit it, and so the debut of a band considered one of thrash metal’s founders came out as Bonded By Blood.
Fate wasn’t kind to the band in those early eighties. Bonded By Blood should have come out as early as 1984, but thanks to complications it only came out the following year… And, sadly, it went pretty much unnoticed in the flood of thrash, with Metallica’s debut Kill ‘Em All, released in ’84, adding insult to injury. Fate, injustice, a twist of circumstances, call it what you like, Exodus stayed in the background, in the shadow of thrash’s holy trinity (Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax). But that’s no reason for Bonded By Blood not to be an excellent record. Quite the opposite, Bonded By Blood is a pure thrash metal assault! Raw vocals, galloping riffs, dynamic drums, everything that defines thrash is very much present on this record.
It doesn’t exactly happen often that a vocalist records just one album (Baloff did return for a live album, Another Lesson in Violence from 1997) and still gets written into the legends. True, Baloff isn’t a technically perfect vocalist, not even close, but you couldn’t wish for a better thrash metal vocal. Probably only Chuck Billy of Testament comes close. Baloff spews out all the rage, aggression and brutality he’s got, sounding like an asylum patient who’s been pumped full of amphetamines and locked in a padded cell! He sounds like a serial killer chopping his victims (read: us listeners) into little pieces. Next to Baloff, Hatfield comes off like a girl selling cookies. A textbook example of fantastic thrash vocals!
As if Baloff’s twisted screams weren’t sick enough, there’s riff after riff, fired off in bursts by the Holt/Hunolt duo. The brutality of the riffs is downright ridiculous. Probably only King/Hanneman (Slayer) come close to this thrash duo. The sawing, the passages and the solos that spice it all up… everything is in its place. But like I said, the real charm of the record comes from the truly outstanding riffs, which I’d even dare to call some of the best things that ever happened to thrash metal. Hunting on drums and McKillop on bass are, frankly, nothing special, but they add just the right amount of rhythm and support to the guitars. Hunting’s drumming is very good, especially, while McKillop is almost inaudible. That would normally count as a big minus, but on Bonded By Blood it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I honestly don’t even miss the bass.
There’s no room for sugar-coated ballads on Bonded By Blood. This is 41 minutes of adrenaline injected straight into the main vein. The march through hell kicks off with the title metal anthem Bonded By Blood, which is packed with riffs and graced by a fantastic chorus too. “Murder in the front row, crowd begins to bang, and there’s blood upon the stage, bang you head against the stage and metal takes its price, bonded by blood!” Can lyrics get any more metal than that!? Next up is the brutal Exodus, then the mid-tempo masterpiece And Then There Were None and probably the best-known Exodus track, the incredible A Lesson in Violence, which sounds like it was written for Exodus by the devils themselves. A supersonic-fast track backed by a proper alphabet of riffing, with Baloff sounding like he’s calling demons up from the depths of hell. Kneel down or learn your lesson in violence! Metal Command calms the record down a bit, but then a pack of killer fish attacks – Piranha. Raw guitars, murderous drumming and hellish vocals… what more could a headbanging fanatic want? The real surprise is No Love with its lovely, mellow classical guitar intro that practically begs for a serenade with your girl… Big mistake, as the explosion a few seconds later proves! The adrenaline ride on the wild thrash ghost train is wrapped up by the hellish Deliver Us to Evil and Strike of the Beast. The 1999 Century Media edition also gives us two bonus tracks – And Then There Were None and A Lesson in Violence live with Steve “Zetro” Souza on vocals (both recorded in London in 1989). Filler? What’s that?
In my eyes, Bonded By Blood is a record that’s at least on the level of the better-known thrash classics like Reign in Blood (Slayer), Master of Puppets (Metallica), Spreading the Disease (Anthrax) and others.
Bonded By Blood is a thrash metal classic, and yes, you’ll be headbanging to it. Big time! Thrash ‘Till Death!
Lineup
Paul Baloff – vocals
Gary Holt – guitar
Rick Hunolt – guitar
Rob McKillop – bass
Tom Hunting – drums
Production
Mark Whitaker
Tracklist
1. Bonded By Blood
2. Exodus
3. And Then There Were None
4. A Lesson In Violence
5. Metal Command
6. Piranha
7. No Love
8. Deliver Us To Evil
9. Strike Of The Beast
10. And Then There Were None (live)
11. A Lesson In Violence (live)
