Exodus - Exhibit B: The Human Condition
Nuclear Blast
Thrash Metal
12 songs (74:14)
Release year: 2010
Exodus, Nuclear Blast
Reviewed by Thomas
Major event

It has gradually become kill-time for Exodus, a band that has served us absolute thrash metal classics and solid modern thrash albums when the other big guns failed miserably. However, after Tempo of the Damned which was great and Shovel Headed Killing Machine that was also way above average, the guys took a considerable dip in quality with The Atrocity Exhibit: Exhibit A. Although it contained a couple of great tracks, attention faded away quickly mid-way through the album, and ended way below what you'd expect from the violent Americans. Then came the disastrous Bonded by Blood re-recording Let There be Blood which absolutely raped their fine classic and got more or less slaughtered all over the metal-world and got stamped as nothing less than a cash-in. It has in other words been a long and nervous couple of years since Exhibit A, and finally it's here, either life-saving or life-wrecker, Exhibit B: The Human Condition, which undeniably is one of my highest anticipated albums this year.

Even though I literally shivered with excitement before putting this on, I had a hunch that this wouldn't live up to what every thrash metal-fan would like it to be. I've had my hands on this album for maybe four weeks now, and I have pushed it and delayed this review as much as possible. I've been listening and listening, trying to figure out how to put this record into words. The honest truth is that this just doesn't cut it. The reason for why I've been delaying it is that I've been trying to give it time to grow on me fully, so that I could truly and wholly appreciate it for what it is. It's been difficult though, cause I'm left with nothing but disappointment.

This will probably be bashed for toying with metalcore and groove metal, and while it does flirt rather quietly with the latter, I want to make it clear that this is still thrash metal. It's just not the fantastic, head-bang-spawning, violent, ass-kicking you were used to getting from these guys. The song-writing is unusually pale, with an enormous lack of creativity and thought and the lyrics are just flat-out fucking idiotic and pompous. The overall sound of it, which used to be a sign of apocalypse, death and destruction is flat and dry and comes of pinching you in the cheek like old people do instead of punching you in the stomach like Exodus used to. That being said though, there is definitely a bundle of decent songs on here that sticks in my head from time to time, that has some touches of what once was. The good riffs tend to occur in a couple of songs, but they're scattered far and wide over mostly 6-7 minute-tracks which is way to long when playing inconsistent thrash like this. However, parts of opener Ballad of Leonard and Charles, Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer) and March of the Sycophants have some slaying moments that unfortunately either is over in what feels like a split-second, or followed up by rather average slices of breaks. The one song that stands out consistently to me is Downfall, mostly because they sound like Kreator who have been on much better form than Exodus lately.

Those of you who are big fans of modern, chugging, thrash metal with a hint of groove, and especially the Exodus-way might like this better than I did. However, I'd rather jump a couple of albums back and get the grit, punch and madness they failed to deliver here. As I said, this has some decent tunes, but also a fair share of rather mediocre stuff that leaves nothing more than a straight, boring face, and a faint feeling of guilt for the hole it leaves you with rather than a broken neck and a bruised body. All in all, you can't really call this disappointing as you should now what to expect after their last release, however, this is Exodus, and those who have followed them from Bonded by Blood expects better. No matter what.

Oh and:

Murder in the front row. Crowd begins to bang. And there's blood upon the stage. Bang you head against the stage. And metal takes its price. Bonded by blood!

Killing Songs :
None, but Downfall is probably my favourite
Thomas quoted 65 / 100
Aleksie quoted 82 / 100
Other albums by Exodus that we have reviewed:
Exodus - Blood In Blood Out reviewed by Thomas and quoted 80 / 100
Exodus - Fabulous Disaster reviewed by Bar and quoted 90 / 100
Exodus - Let There Be Blood reviewed by Jeff and quoted 80 / 100
Exodus - The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A reviewed by Dylan and quoted 65 / 100
Exodus - Shovel Headed Kill Machine reviewed by Jeff and quoted 60 / 100
To see all 10 reviews click here
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