Artist: Exodus
Title: Bonded By Blood
Year: 1986
Type: Album
Label: Century Media
When I heard last year that Gary Holt had plans to re-record their seminal debut, Bonded By Blood, I honestly can’t say that I was thrilled. Thrash metal has made a come back in recent years, and in many ways I can’t blame him for wanting to milk the cash cow for all that it’s worth; while I couldn’t help but see this as a little disrespectful to original vocalist Paul Baloff (RIP), the band have since claimed this was never their intentions and rather it was designed to be done in tribute to their late frontman. To give credit where it’s due, the Bonded By Blood v.2.0 model turned out to be surprisingly good stuff. Having been through several line-up changes over the past 20+ years, it would be churlish of me to expect the Exodus of 2009 to be the same band that formed all those years ago and with Let There Be Blood, they succeeded in basically paying tribute to their former selves without being a parody of such. Rob Dukes did his own thing, and overall it was brought bang up to date with gleaming production, tightened and more weighted riffage and it all made it easier to swallow for those that had previously overlooked this classic album simply for its primitive values.
Still, as impressed as I was with the remake it could never detract from what a fantastic album the original Bonded By Blood is. This may be considered by some as a poor album, but often the criticisms that are thrown at me are the very things that make this such a classic. This album captures the very essence of thrash and just spews it out in its crudest form. There are no frills, no gloss and no bullshit; this gives the impression of five toxic teens in bullet belts who actually don’t give much of a fuck that the vocals are squeaky and ain’t note perfect. Not that I am an advocate of out and out sloppiness or lack of ability in bands, but in their blemished and unrefined roughness they demonstrate the kind of enthusiasm, energy and punk attitude that often seems bereft in more technically inclined musicians that are more “advanced” in their sound and who take themselves a lot more seriously.
I’ve so far put a lot of emphasis on the attitude, but it is also things such as the sheer adrenaline-fuelled speed of numbers like ‘Exodus’ and ‘A Lesson In Violence’ that really get you fired up and ready to wreak havoc in the pit. Title track ‘Bonded By Blood’ is catchier than swine flu (sorry) and has me swept into a fevered frenzy of uncontrollable headbanging rage whether in the living room or on an overcrowded train. Of course it’s a little cheesy, but equally fun and with a sense of humour that’s totally toxic; a kind of slapstick sadism is at play with lyrics like ‘cut bare flesh to the bone, use a rusty knife’ and of course ‘slow decay, your body starts to smell’ amuses me on ‘No Love’ (Which certainly isn’t about any of that love bollocks, thank fuck! Nothing like a ballad to ruin a perfectly good album)! ‘Piranha’ is a prime moment and comes straight for the jugular with riffs as sharp and as deadly as a hungry piranha fish hunting you down for his next meal. This sounds truly ferocious and while simplistic, is a pure exercise in exhaustive speed. By contrast, ‘And then There Were None’ is a nice mid-paced thrasher albeit heavy, (and certainly the only one slow enough here for me to have ever mastered on the axe).
The album is full of simple, catchy riffs that really have the energy to set them apart from the rest and to make me want to keep returning to this album time and time again. This is up there with a select few thrash albums I would consider to be absolutely essential listening and owning the touched up version is no substitute for this classic. Anyone who criticises this album is TOTALLY missing the point!
Luci Herbert
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