Exhibit B: The Human Condition

Personnel: Rob Dukes (vocals); Gary Holt, Lee Altus (guitar); Tom Hunting (drums).
Audio Mixer: Andy Sneap.
Recording information: Camp Crunch, Guerneville, CA; Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, CA.
You can always count on Exodus to supply some good, old-fashioned, downright vicious thrash metal with each release. And the lads deliver once more on their 2010 offering, Exhibit B: The Human Condition (impressively, their fourth album over a six-year period -- 2004-2010). As with the past few Exodus releases, guitarist Gary Holt and drummer Tom Hunting are the sole original members left in attendance. But this certainly doesn't prevent the group from offering up an absolutely brutal slab of thrash metal -- with the intensity not dipping one iota from beginning to end. And according to Holt, Exhibit B is a bit of a concept album, as the lyrics deal with such warm and fuzzy topics as "cruelty, ignorance, inhumanity, and brutality." Either way, the heavy duty topics certainly fit in well with the fast and furious riffing and vocal roars (the latter courtesy of Rob Dukes) -- as evidenced on such headbanging ragers as the album opener, "The Ballad of Leonard and Charles," as well as "Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer)" and "March of the Sycophants." Even with the tunes that momentarily take a breather ("Democide," "A Perpetual State of Indifference," etc.), it's only a matter of time until Exodus rams down the gas pedal once again and returns to their chug-a-lug riffery. Exodus has always liked it fast and furious, and they certainly don't disappoint with Exhibit B: The Human Condition. ~ Greg Prato