Exodus – Shovel Headed Kill Machine – Review

exodus200Exodus

Shovel Headed Kill Machine (Nuclear Blast)
by Martin Popoff

With one vocalist dead and another one “You are dead to me,” Gary Holt keeps the nightmare alive with the hiring of Rob Dukes, who reminds one of the thrash purity of Peter Dolving returning to The Haunted. Bolstering this fake lineup of Exodus (the rest of the H team, Hunting and Hunolt, are now gone) is veteran drummer Paul Bostaph, who also adds to the professionalism and pure Bay Area beauty of this album. And heck, Tempo of the Damned ruled as well, so it’s no surprise Holt makes us forget all the bait and switches. The guitar sound is mercilessly hard, hardened, and tempered, Bostaph is recorded with edgy, technical cunning, and Holt’s riffs possess an embattled critical mass that evoke thoughts of Nevermore, Machine Head, Annihilator, and Destruction thrown into an incongruous boiling pot of metal mayhem. Still, could this be a friggin’ Dew-Scented album or something from any number of baby bands sculpted by Sneap or Richardson or Bauerfeind? Sure it could.
(www.nuclearblastusa.com)