Exodus @ Amplifier Bar, Perth(05/10/10)

Sat 9th Oct, 2010 in Gig Reviews

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It’s 1980 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Guitarists Gary Holt and Kirk Hammett along with drummer Tom Hunting form a thrash band called Exodus. They recruit Paul Baloff for vocal duties and Jeff Andrews for the low end rumbling bass and record their 1982 Demo. Kirk Hammett gets an invitation from Metallica to replace Dave Mustaine, who then goes on to form Megadeth. Hammett is in turn replaced by Rick Hunolt and Andrews by Rob McKillop. Exodus go on to record one of the most influential thrash albums Bonded by Blood, and Metallica go on to make millions.

The rest is history.

Quite a convoluted sequence of events as anyone can see, but it is evident how integral Exodus was at the inception of thrash metal. With a solid line-up and a new album, they are still touring and like a hungry dog with a new toy, ready to thrash Australia to pieces.

Malignant Monster are pretty great. They’ve been reasonably quiet the last year or so but they certainly weren’t tonight. Front man Cain Cressal has been handling vocal duties for industrial metal band The Amenta. If he’s half as crazy as he is with Malignant, he is undoubtedly wooing audiences the world over. Drummer Ben Stanley kept everything super tight with latest addition Dave Elzer from the former Pathogen glory days. Jarrad Curley is one of the most underrated guitarists in the scene, and quite an asset to the band and metal community. He showed punters why, with razor sharp riffing and face melting solos. Co-axeman Lynton Cessford held his own, proudly displaying one of his other band’s t-shirts. A bit of self promotion never hurt anyone.

Pretty soon it was that time of the night. Exodus took the stage like the crusty old thrash stalwarts they are and began the proceedings with The Ballad of Leonard and Charles. A ballad it certainly was not, a fist pumping, mosh worthy anthem it was.

Founding member and guitarist Gary Holt showed off his fast licking skill which he traded with Lee Atlus in between blazing riffs. Rob Dukes spat venom into the crowd, intoxicating all with his lyrical rants. All the while bassist Jack Gibson and drummer Tom Hunting kept the pace and rhythm together.

A few technical hitches here and there simply gave Dukes time to pull out the standard metal show banter: “I love it here, the women are so hot you lucky bastards!” and “If I could live anywhere it’d be here!” and “Thanks for coming out, you guys fuckin’ rule.” not to mention, “We’re hanging out for a few days so we’re chasing some good weed, if you have any…” Dukes was stopped short as a joint was passed his way. “Alright man!” he said with a Cheshire cat grin. Nothing wrong with all that clichéd talk, it was a thrash metal gig after all.

They pulled out a pretty decent selection of hits including Piranha, War Is My Shepherd and Bonded By Blood of course. The crowd responded by obliging with a wall of death; quite a feat considering it was mid-week. They put on a great show, Holt holding his guitar head high by one hand during dive bombs, Dukes even helped him out by strumming a few riffs to give Holt a breather while he drank a beer. They clearly generated a hard-earned thirst.

They finished up with The Toxic Waltz and appropriately titled Good Riddance- and no it wasn’t a cover of a Green Day song. It was a thrash masterpiece to cap off a sweet set by metal’s unsung heroes of the underground. Hopefully they’ll come back soon, or as Dukes proclaimed, reside here.

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