It is hardly ever quiet around Exodus. It started with the legendary debut Bonded By Blood, which in an even more legendary fashion remained on the shelf for almost two years, meaning the (then former) kings of the Bay Area had already been overtaken on several fronts by the time the record finally came out. After that, the band split with singer Paul Baloff. Former vocalist of Legacy (the later Testament, you know them), Steve “Zetro” Souza provided the next albums with his characteristic vocals. Those records, however, on the longer run lost impact and increasingly sounded as if the band was releasing albums out of habit. And so the story came to a temporary end after Impact Is Imminent (1990) and Force Of Habit (1992). In 1997 the band got back to work with Baloff to deliver, among other things, a crushing performance at Dynamo Open Air (“Why so heavy?”). The celebration was short-lived, because by 1998 everything had ground to a halt again. In 2001 another attempt followed with Baloff, which ended with the regrettable passing of the Bay Area icon in 2002.
And yet in 2004 there was a glorious return with perhaps the best comeback album ever: Tempo Of The Damned. Once again with Zetro behind the microphone, sounding far more convincing than on the earlier material. But he left later that same year, meaning the high wave of Tempo Of The Damned that might have carried Exodus far quickly turned into little more than stagnant water. The following albums with Rob Dukes on vocals were certainly worthwhile, but there was nevertheless considerable hype (and higher positions on festival posters) when Zetro returned once again in 2014. With him the band delivered great shows – quite a few of them in the Lowlands – and released two solid (albeit not groundbreaking) albums, so surely things would remain quiet for a while now, right? Wrong! In 2025 the paths of the band and Zetro once again diverged and Rob Dukes returned. One might expect the group to feel enormous pressure to make a statement of unprecedented proportions with the new (well, sort of) frontman. Wrong again! On this new Goliath the band mainly seems intent on simply having fun with metal. A noble ambition!
We hear it in The Changing Me, in which drummer (!) Tom Hunting together with Peter Tägtren (Hypocrisy, Pain) handles the clean vocals; we hear it in the fiery guitar duels between Gary Holt and Lee Altus (ex-Heathen); and we hear it in the duck-tight rhythm section of Gibson/Hunting. The sheer joy of playing bursts from every corner.
3111 kicks off the thrash madness ominously with slowly struck chords (that somewhat recall Blind by Corrosion Of Conformity) and maniacal laughter. After a little over a minute Gary Holt jumps in with one of those lightning-fast riffs you would recognise as his from a thousand others. We’re home again! Dukes has never been my favourite Exodus singer, simply because his voice is less distinctive than those of his illustrious predecessors. That does not change the fact that – just like on Shovel Headed Kill Machine and the The Atrocity Exhibition two-parter – he performs his task perfectly well. In his familiar fashion he barks his words into the microphone, but already in this first track he sounds somewhat more versatile. He will probably never have a truly wide range, but those almost death-grunt-like vocals are a nice addition. But Exodus above all stands for the often brilliant riffs of grandmaster Gary Holt and the relentlessly pummelling drums of Tom Hunting, who was already present in the band’s 1979 line-up. And both giants of their craft make it clear on the opener of Goliath that they have lost none of their power.
The Changing Me begins atypically, though perhaps not entirely unexpectedly after the previously announced clean vocals, with melodic string work reminiscent of fingerpicking. The track itself then grooves and ploughs toward a massive chorus that does not entirely stick yet. It does, however, make our appreciation for the rabid vocals of Dukes – which do hit the mark – increase even more. The almost sensitive solos propel the song further along the currents of time. A bit of a hit-and-miss one, perhaps because I am not particularly fond of massively chanted lines as a chorus (hello recent Kreator!). The fade-out at the end only reinforces my feeling that this might not be the most carefully thought-out track on the album.
The corners of the mouth quickly return to grimace mode with the more energetic Promise You This, with its heavy thrash riffs and Dukes’ punky approach. Here the catchy chorus – sounding like the better kind of Megadeth – works like a charm, just like the blazing guitar work that is (did I already mention Megadeth?) attached to it. What a delightful fury! Respect given! Title track Goliath begins extremely ominously with slow drums and a thunderous three-headed hell-bass. Sucking and scraping, Dukes creeps under our skin: He’s here to end our suffering / To see us euthanised. And it proceeds slowly – step by step – but mercilessly and unstoppable. The cello layered over it seems intent only on mocking us and the fate we cannot avoid. Impressive, beautifully done and a fine twist halfway through the album.
With Beyond The Event Horizon the accelerator is simply pressed again and we are battered with perhaps one of the most thrashy lyrics ever: “Black hole of death / The destroyer of life”. I cannot suppress a small grin, and it only grows with the nicely grooving break that follows and drags us further toward the event horizon. As we approach the black hole, the two string-pluckers push toward the speed of light in intense solos. 2 Minutes Hate secretly lasts almost five minutes, but the heavy riffs, thundering bass and guitar duels carry you through it easily. Those riffs are mid-tempo, though, and somewhat recall what the ’90s brought to thrash. That might not please die-hard fans of the faster material. They may prefer the two previous albums, but I actually quite enjoy the dynamics here. Cue the almost Prong-like “start and stop” at the beginning of Violence Works. The riff after the chorus pries, twists and gradually works its way toward the solo – but it gets there. Nicely done!
As expected, it all comes down hard again on the closing track. After all, we are listening to a thrash band here (although the twin-guitar frivolities have a bit of a happy-metal feel)! Tom lets his feet do the talking one more time and once again Holt drags one of those addictive themes from his strings. We do this till we fucking die! May that dying stay far away for a long time yet.
Goliath has turned into an inspired, varied and also somewhat daring (the band could easily have continued the line of the previous two albums) thrash record that will appear in my year-end list. I will not say more about it than that. Well, alright, one more thing then: buy it, buy it, buy it!
Score:
85/100
Label:
Napalm Records, 2026
Tracklisting:
- 3111
- Hostis Humani Generis
- The Changing Me
- Promise You This
- Goliath
- Beyond The Event Horizon
- 2 Minutes Hate
- Violence Works
- Summon The God Unknown
- The Dirtiest Of The Dozen
Line-up:
- Tom Hunting – Drums
- Gary Holt – Guitar
- Jack Gibson – Bass guitar
- Lee Altus – Guitar
- Rob Dukes – Vocals
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