LIVE PHOTOS: Exodus, Havok, Candy, Dead Heat
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By Greg Maki
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Baltimore came to throw down on this Saturday night. Maybe my perception was clouded because I haven’t been to a lot of shows this year, but this near-capacity crowd was rowdy almost from the start. And Exodus’s “Battle of ‘24” tour, its first headline run in many years, provided all the thrashing, headbanging good times anyone here could’ve wanted.
Dead Heat, a crossover thrash act out of Oxnard, California, signed to Metal Blade Records, got things moving in a hurry, with circle pits roiling and crowdsurfers splashing over the barricade. (Venue security seemed a bit unprepared for the tide of fans rushing toward them, which was a bit odd given the nature of the night’s show.) Up next, there was nothing sweet about Candy, a raging, experimental blend of metal, hardcore and electronic sounds determined to melt as many faces as possible. Curiously, the band, which is signed to Relapse Records, used significantly less than the 35 minutes allotted to it on the schedule posted at the doors, but I suppose that’s better than overstaying your welcome.
As direct support, Denver, Colorado’s Havok, an act now with 20 years of history, brought a more traditional thrash metal attack to the stage, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. Judging from audience reaction, Havok probably could have headlined and sent most in attendance home happy. Vocalist/guitarist David Sanchez showed a good sense of humor throughout, once calling for an “isosceles triangle” pit as opposed to the traditional circle.
Havok’s throwback sound was the perfect tablesetter for the night’s main event. To some, Exodus is a mere footnote in the Metallica story. But true thrash connoisseurs know the band’s importance in the Bay Area scene of the early ‘80s. Maybe the many, many lineup changes throughout its four-plus decades, particularly at the vocalist position, have kept Exodus from achieving the more widespread notoriety of some of its peers. But the band has surged back in a big way ever since the thrash revival jumpstarted in earnest in the 2010s, no doubt receiving a lift from the 2014 return of frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza for his third tour of duty.
Aside from a pair of tracks from its most recent release, 2021’s superb “Persona Non Grata,” Exodus kept it mostly old school with its set list, ripping through one banger after another for 90 minutes and barely allowing anyone time to catch their breath. Guitarists Gary Holt, who’s become a prominent figure due to being a member of a little band called Slayer since 2011, and Lee Altus showed, as they always do, that they are one of the more underrated duos in metal, while Souza commanded the stage with enthusiasm. The crowd eagerly, feverishly ate it all up—clearly, an Exodus headline tour was long overdue, and the fan base is there for it to happen again sooner rather than later.
EXODUS SET LIST: “The Last Act of Defiance,” “Blood In, Blood Out,” “Fabulous Disaster,” “And Then There Were None,” “Body Harvest,” “Prescribing Horror,” “The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves),” “Brain Dead,” “Deathamphetamine,” “Blacklist,” “Metal Command,” “War Is My Shepherd,” “The Toxic Waltz,” “Strike of the Beast”
LINKS:
Exodus
Havok
Candy
Dead Heat
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