EXODUS - Tempo Of The Damned
December 29, 2003, 20 years ago
(Nuclear Blast)
The reformed Bay Area thrashers have a lot to live down: the limping along "end" of their initial career, in the form of Impact Is Imminent (prophetic?) and Force Of Habit, which seemed a little, eh, forced. Not to mention the attempted '90s "metal" of Wardance. Well, Tempo washes away the stale aftertaste (in part due to resurrecting older, never released material, like 'Impaler', and to a lesser extent, 'Throwing Down'); just a shame the late Paul Baloff wasn't able to appear. His vocals were always more sinister and psychotic than Steve "Zetro" Sousa, who does an admirable job filling such legendary shoes (once again). The guitars and drums are well up front on the ten numbers. Lyrics deal with diverse (albeit violence-tainted) topics like American foreign policy, domestic violence (and revenge) and religious fanaticism. I know the guys are older (aren't we all?) but the "tempo of the damned" appears to be mid-paced, rather than frenetic (although Exodus was always more about the riffs, than pure speed), only the Motorhead/Slayer hybrid, 'War Is My Sheppard' and the closing pair (an old school 'Impaler' and the title cut) going balls out.
