Exodus – Shovel Headed Kill Machine (Nuclear Blast)
By Chris Barnes
October , 2005
What you’ve probably heard already about
Shovel Headed Kill Machine is that it’s a rip-snorting thrashterpiece of Thrash ferocity, surpassing if not equaling the band’s excellent comeback release
Tempo Of The Damned and recalling their legendary debut
Bonded By Blood. I’d agree with
most of that – listen closely to the unbridled aggression of “Raze”, the runaway rollercoaster ride of “Deathamphetimine” or the face-melting ferocity of “44 Magnum Opus” and the title track as examples of a band not only firing on all cylinders, but friggin’ chugging a rocket fuel chaser. Age has not diminished the talent of this band, it’s only made them more wise in the songwriting department. And apparently a whole lot more fucking angry.
But I have a caveat, not because I’m a picky a-hole (I am), but because I care. And that caveat is new vocalist Rob Dukes. There is no doubt in my head that he gives it 110% - listen to how the guy snarls and spits the lyrics in “Raze”. This is a man either living his lyrics or has a major anger management problem. Or both. The issue I have is that Dukes lacks the vocal charisma of a Steve Souza or Paul Baloff and ends up sounding like someone from one of those dime-a-dozen New Wave of Swedish Thrash Metal bands where everyone is trying to be Peter Dolving. Dukes operates at one speed – extreme rage. Grant it, he does it extremely well, but Souza and Baloff, each in their own ways, romanced the lyrics so the listener could pick up the biting sarcasm or acidic wit. Their voices had that something special that gave Exodus a huge amount of differentiation that made them careen wildly from the pack.
That’s not to say that
Shovel Headed Kill Machine isn’t enjoyable. It’s a monster. Someone took the cap off a bottle of rage. There isn’t anything as immediately grabbing as “War Is My Shepard” or “Scar Spangled Banner” off of
Tempo…, but it’s the combination of chops, uncontrolled aggression and strict adherence to the old school tenets of Exodus thrash that make
Shovel Headed…. a mutha of a thrash record.
So Dukes probably wasn’t the
best choice to replace Souza in my book, and that takes the overall album down a couple of notches for me. I kept thinking how Souza might have sounded on these songs if he weren’t such an a-hole or even how thrash free agent Johnny Bush might sound on the mic – but in retrospect it’s a relatively minor caveat considering the tremendous quality of metal displayed here. Give it a spin, see what you think.
Visit the Exodus website at www.exodusattack.com
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