Tempo of the Damned

Tempo of the Damned is a moving comeback on which Exodus, with sharp slashing riffs, a fiercely accelerating beat and rough singing, again strongly put forward its own thrash metal. After a long hiatus, Steve “Zetro” Souza returned and the old lineup powerfully reunited. The sound is more modernly arranged, yet at the songs’ center a dangerous momentum, unchanged in the least from the early days, surely breathes. About half a year later, Rick Hunolt also joined. From the aggression of the opener “Scar Spangled Banner” and the powerful “War Is My Shepherd” to the drama of “Blacklist,” every song is engaging, while cuts like “Forward March” and “Culling the Herd” convey the work’s fullness. Not only fast songs’ overwhelming aggression, but heavy, stepping mid-tempo songs hold a strong tension. An extremely convincing comeback that, rather than ending the old rough style as mere nostalgia, again powerfully made it function as a weight particular to the 2000s. This revival became an important turning point leading to the later energetic activity. A moving, engaging masterpiece announcing Exodus’s splendid return — a record announcing the band’s full revival.