When the news that the legendary Exodus was about to release a new album reached me, my first thought was: “What the hell, this can’t be possible. Not after the terrible redundant trash they released since Bonded By Blood and Pleasures Of The Flesh, and certainly not after the death of the enigmatic front man Paul Baloff.” Twelve years have passed since the last studio album of Exodus. While we saw a brief awakening of the band at the end of the nineties with several excellent live shows including a superb performance at Dynamo Open Air, I would never have thought they’d release another quality album. Well, I was severely mistaken. One interesting detail: the release date of Tempo Of The Damned is the two year anniversary of Paul’s death: February 2nd, 2004.

Being a big fan of thrash metal and Bay Area thrash metal in particular, it took me no more than 5 seconds to realize that Exodus kicks serious ass again. The band that many see as the true instigator of the thrash metal scene, and not without good reason I might add; considering their superb Bonded By Blood. Tempo Of The Damned is the album they never managed to release since Pleasures Of The Flesh. Exodus opens with “Star Spangled Banner” (I had a brief and shuddering déjà vu) but this is certainly not the average ‘we’re Americans and we’re patriots’ type of song. On the contrary, to quote Exodus: “I’m no patriot, just a hatriot.” This song bears all the trademarks of the old Exodus, and where the band went wrong with over-technicality in the past, they now have kept things simple and as aggressive as a frenzied shark that smells blood. Steve “Zetro” Souza howls, gurgles, grunts and screams like a young dog, while the guitar riffs of Rick Hunolt and Gary Hunt whip up a frenzy that is simply unparalleled in modern thrash metal. In fact Zetro has never sounded this good. The man must be releasing all the pent up anger from the last 15 years.

Hell yeah. What an album. It smacks you in the face like a ten ton hammer and grabs you by the balls for over 50 minutes. Exodus have found their inner anger and released it in one severe blow that redefines thrash metal and show that the masters of old are not ready yet to give in to a newer generation.

They are pretty damn angry and they’re pulling all the plugs. Souza is so angry that he sounds like he is about to pop some blood vessels and spit blood. This is a freight train going downhill at full speed without brakes. Song titles like “Shroud Of Urine”, “Sealed With A Fist” and “Culling The Herd” are rather self-explanatory and show that this time their anger is tangible and hanging thick in the air. Not like the fake whipped up crap we got served on Impact Is Imminent or the quasi aggressive Fabulous Disaster that wasn’t much more than hatred topped with whip cream, featuring a couple of decent thrash tracks but most of it was rather lackluster.

Exodus have increased their level of aggression and they sure as hell have gone back to their roots. But that doesn’t totally explain the brilliance of this album. In fact the real reason behind the success of this fine piece of metal is the diversity of the material. Exodus seem to have learned from their mistakes and changed their style accordingly, as well as having listened to their compatriots for sources of inspiration. Listen for instance to the slow pounding “Blacklist” that certainly reminds me of Overkill during their good days. “War Is My Sheppard” and “Throwing Down” have definite touches of Pantera. Don’t get me wrong they didn’t just simply copy the ideas of those bands. No, not at all, they just changed their style from the technical ball-less clinical metal and went back to their roots, imbuing it with the best that old school thrash has to offer.

Exodus have made a comeback that will surprise every single old school thrash metal fan. There simply is no denying: this is the best thrash metal album my ears have had the pleasure of listening to in a long long time. Tempo Of The Damned has sparked a small flame of hope in me that thrash metal is rising from the ashes like the proverbial Phoenix. The flame is small, but it has been rekindled nevertheless. Who will pick up the challenge and set the place on fire?