EXODUS: Shovel Headed Kill Machine (Nuclear Blast)
By Fizz
Rating: 8.0
I don’t know about you, but I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect from Exodus on the follow-up to 2004’s mammoth comeback album Tempo of the Damned. The lineup barely managed to hold together long enough to record THAT album, and the thing hadn’t been out six months before the roster started falling apart again. First, the band’s signature vocalist, Steve Souza split, replaced for a tour with Megadeth by Steev Esquivel of Skinlab. Then drummer Tom Hunting bailed for health-related issues. Then the real shocker, longtime guitarist Rick Hunolt (one of very few Exodus members to appear on every album thus far) headed off for pastures new. And yet through it all, guitarist and sole remaining original member Gary Holt continuned to work on new material. Of course, he described it frequently as “the heaviest, most pissed-off material we’ve ever done.” Of course, long-suffering followers of the metal scene know that to be pretty much standard hyperbole, but this time it turned out to be true. Imagine that!
I held off on buying Shovel Headed Kill Machine for a couple months after its release, for a couple reasons. Firstly, Steve Souza is one of my favorite thrash vocalists of all time, and the thought of Exodus without his sneering, snarling rasp just didn’t seem right. Then, I had read some mixed reviews of the album, and didn’t want to blow fifteen bucks on something I wouldn’t listen to after two weeks, just so I could review it here. But I finally broke down and bought it, and I stand before you to present my review.
Let’s get one thing out of the way right now before we go any further: Andy Sneap is the most overrated thing in metal today. Really! Why is this guy revered as some kind of superproducer? Every record he gets his mitts on sounds exactly the same. Granted, Holt handles the production himself, and only brings Sneap in for the mixing stage, but all I’ve got to say is, I hope Nuclear Blast is happy. All that money just so Andy could come in and spend fifteen minutes setting up the board the way he has for every other record he’s ever done, and then waltz on out the door.
For once though, the big talk turned out to be more than just big talk. Shovel Headed Kill Machine IS the heaviest, most pissed-off music Exodus has ever made, evenmore so than Tempo of the Damned. And yes, even more than their 1985 landmark Bonded By Blood. Simply put, the thing is just vicious, like a rockslide hurtling down a mountain, or perhaps an avalanche, given the icy-cold guitar tone Sneap favors. The riffs are prime Exodus: simplistic but pulverizing, driven home with the force of a sledgehammer. This record is a notch or two up from its predecessor in terms of speed as well, with much of the album careening at full-tilt, but for the most part avoiding monotony by the sheer power of the music. New vocalist Rob Dukes was promoted from being Gary Holt’s guitar tech, and sounds like it. He had some damn big shoes to fill, replacing Souza, so I suppose he can be forgiven, at least a little. However, even with that in mind, I remain unimpressed by his generic thrash/death vocal style. The good news is that he doesn’t detract much from the music, and even sounds pretty decent on the faster passages. But the best news is that former Slayer and Forbidden (oh yeah, and Systematic, can’t forget them—oops, I alreaey did) drummer Paul Bostaph has replaced Tom Hunting on the drum stool. This is one change that worked out unequivocally for the better. You know half the drumming on Tempo of the Damned was all raging and frantic, and the other half was kinda boring? This time out, with Bostaph holding the sticks, it’s ALL stark raving mad. Too bad our ol’ buddy Sneap keeps the drums in the background, as usual, giving the manic double-bass pounding the sound of of somebody drumming on his lap with his fists. Oh, and lest I forget, new guitarist Lee Altus 9formerly of Heathen) proves himself a worthy successor to Rick Hunolt in every way, so the guitar work he shares with Holt doesn’t suffer one bit.
Okay, on to the songs! “Raze” gets things going without wasting any time, with very catchy verses, and simple, repetitive riffing. As soon as Rob Dukes opened his mouth and roared out the opening lines, I thought, “Whew! Everything’s going to be all right after all.” “Raze” Is like a number of songs on the disc: headlong, furious thrash metal at its best. “Karma’s Messenger” is similar, and has a positively nasty midsection, while “Going, Going, Gone” sports one of those choruses that you can safely call catchy, in a thrash context. “I Am Abomination” is a wee bit slower (or perhaps “more restrained” would be a better word) but no less infectious.
A couple songs seem to be not-so-distant cousins of tracks from the previous album. “Shudder to Think” eases things down a bit and comes off a little like ‘Blacklist II,” although the riff also reminds me of Megadeth’s “Angry Again.” Of course, nothing can top “Blacklist,” possibly the best song Exodus has EVER done, and “Shudder to Think” doesn’t threaten to, but is still a nice slab of metal with a cool groove. “Altered Boy,” wherein lyricist Holt indulges his penchant for trying to tackle serious issues and takes on the child-abuse scandal in the Catholic church, isn’t as good, however. This one seems to be a retread of Tempo’s “Culling the Herd,” mixed with a section borrowed straight from Pantera’s “Walk.” Meanwhile, “Now Thy Death Day Come” has some swift passages, and a long, swinging middle part that breaks up the flow a little bit, making the song hard to remember as a whole.
One of my other concerns before buying this CD was the length of some of the songs. I had heard it said that the songs were too long, but looking at the track times, I see that only three songs pass the six-minute mark. “Altered Boy” is one, at seven and a half minutes, which certainly doesn’t help matters. “Deathamphetamine” is eight and a half minutes long, but has so many different riffs, including a slow, grueling intro and a long, wild solo section, that you don’t notice how time’s getting on as you listen. “44 Magnum Opus” is just a few seconds shy of seven minutes, and exemplifies the Exodus’s brand of ‘good friendly violent fun,” not letting up for a second. Otherwise, I think part of the popular complaint might lie in the fact that most of the songs themselves are so fast-paced that they SEEM long, even when they aren’t. I was happy to find that the song length, perceived or actual, wasn’t nearly as big a problem as I’d feared it might be. I do notice that when I play the CD in its entirety, I continually miss the beginning of “Opus,” because I’ve gotten distracted with the mediocre “Death Day.”
The album ends with the title track, just a brief three minutes, and surprisingly with no solo. After the first chorus, the band switches gears abruptly into a laborious plod that puts one in mind of the tank pictured on the cover rumbling slowly along, crushing skulls at it passes. And then suddenly, it’s back to full-throttle for the second verse, and then, BAM! We’re done! Whew!
All in all, I found Shovel Headed Kill Machine to be a pleasant surprise. It’s not that I thought it was going to suck. But with the personnel troubles the band faced, the loss of Souza chief among them, I just wasn’t expecting it to be that great, and certainly not as good as it is. Rob Dukes is all right, but no more, and could be singing for any number of European “neo-thrash” bands like Carnal Forge. There are many times throughout the record though, when his vocals work surprisingly well, and overall, I can’t find too much fault with him, even though I was all set to.
As far as lyrics go, it’s more of the same from Gary Holt. Typical over-the-top violence and somewhat adolescent takes on issues facing the world today. I notice he’s backed off a bit from the incessant profanity of Tempo, for what that may be worth.
Shovel Headed Kill Machine is a very solid album, boiling over with aggression and very palpable anger. Great to play as you go on a shooting rampage through town, or just to put on after a bad day, or even when you’re feeling especcially feisty. Even with Holt the lone remaining Exodus veteran, the band is still a vital force in heavy metal.
Best songs: “Deathamphetamine,” “Going, Going, Gone”
Worst songs; “Altered Boy,” “Now Thy Death Day Come”
12/17/05
