EXODUS: PERSONA NON GRATA

The Thrash Metal hierarchy has long been constructed around the mainstream success of the American "Big Four", dwarfing their peers outside of the clique with their mass popularity and stratospheric record sales. Thanks to bands such as Exodus, Testament and Overkill, a revolution has begun. The most recent releases from those bands comprising the Big Four have been good at best, while the latest albums from these previously mentioned outsiders have been breathtakingly excellent.
Persona Non Grata is a crushingly heavy slab of solid Thrash Metal. Gary Holt and fellow guitarist Lee Altus whip up a veritable storm of crunchy, Thrashing, whiplash-inducing riffs from start to finish. A superhuman barrage of drum battery is unleashed by Tom Hunting, accompanied by Jack Gibson's booming, thundering and raking bass notes. All the while Steve Souza sings, screams and snarls like a rabid and possessed vocal maestro.
Kicking off the album and indiscriminately booting in your eardrums and teeth, title track "Persona Non Grata" is a furious Thrasher, utterly relentless and delightfully heavy, it is a strong statement from a band who clearly mean business. The duelling riffs and indescribably good solos alone knock Exodus' contemporaries into the dirt.
The chugfest continues as "R.E.M.F" crushes like a bulldozer with collosal waves of blinding Thrash, the kind of which evokes merciless headbanging and air-guitaring of the most extreme kind.
It is worth mentioning just how well written and constructed Persona Non Grata is as an album, with every song bringing something a little different to the table while remaining astoundingly heavy and refreshing all the while. For example standout track "Slipping Into Madness" is crunchier than a bowl of cereal and could blow out windows with airstrike precision percussion. With a flavour of Punky crossover swagger and attitude "Elitist" is every bit the raised giant Metal middle finger that the title eludes to.
Tackling the tough subject of Thalidomide "Prescribing Horror" sounds as sinister and unsettling as the subject at hand, with slower crushing riffs and tonnes of weighty bass. Ripping and Thrashing like maniacs Exodus let loose a short and razor sharp slice of old school fury with the delightfully sounding and wonderfully titled "The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)".
Oozing with groove and industrial crunch "The Years Of Death And Dying" is a deep and diverse number with oodles of rumbling bass guitars, barbaric drumming and sweet solos.
If your neck has somehow managed to stay intact this far into Persona Non Grata, then gems like "Clickbait" and "The Fires Of Division" are guaranteed to snap you out of shape with staggering full throttle Thrash attacks. Any vestige of doubt that Exodus are here to kick the bloated and idle Thrash Metal scene back into shape will be emphatically dismissed by closing bruiser "Antiseed", which bears the sound of a heavy and hungry band who still know how to write a real rager. There are no shortage of incredible riffs and savage drumming here, this is a borderline Thrash overdose.
Overall, Persona Non Grate is a magnificent album and delivers the goods on every level. Exodus are by no means newcomers or amateurs when it comes to producing cracking Thrash Metal, but Persona Non Grata takes things to another level. This is a lean and mean, fast and furious Thrash attack that clearly shows Exodus mean business as they sweep the Big Four off from their lofty perch.

For fans of; TESTAMENT, OVERKILL, HEATHEN

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