Being Exodus’ second ever visit to Sweden’s capital (the first took place in 1989); the audience turnout this Saturday night was that which is to be expected for a band that never made it as big as Slayer or even Testament, but should had. Exodus is sort of the Bay Area Thrash equivalent of Diamond Head’s contribution to the NWOBHM movement; a band that musically was among the very spear headers of a chapter in Metal history, but whose commercial success never quite matched its talent. As it goes, the size of the crowd, while certainly not awful by any stretch, still feels weird for what really is a legendary name, taking into consideration how long it’s been since Exodus’ last Stockholm visit, especially in times when Metal’s popularity is supposedly at a new high.
Carnal Forge
Swedish band Carnal Forge has been active and putting out underground releases for the last ten years. Thus landing a gig for a well known, though old school, act such as Exodus means good exposure for them. A good portion of the audience had turned up already, so Carnal Forge had a good opportunity to spill its Modern Metal gospel to those already in attendance. Shouting vocalist Peter Tuthill was just the first front man on stage this evening calling for the Stockholm crowd to be as loud as the Gothenburg counterpart apparently had been the night before. A Stockholm crowd tends to need a certain time frame in order to warm up, especially for the first band out. But then, that may be typical of a jaded, perhaps spoiled, big town mentality. By the fourth song though, Carnal Forge start to really spark a response, and the crowd was willing to echo along the material of the group’s latest offering Testify For My Victims satisfyingly.
3 Inches Of Blood
Hailing from Vancouver, Canada, 3 Inches Of Blood has largely gotten great critical and public acclaim for their take on Traditional, fantasy dealt Metal. This, despite their music being not particularly memorable for the most part, with the odd exceptions; “Deadly Sinners” is a darn catchy tune, and “The Goatrider’s Horde” is quite good too, both being played tonight. Like Carnal Forge, 3 Inches Of Blood only gets a playing time of around thirty minutes, so whatever their limited charm is, function better live this night than having to stroll through an entire album of theirs. Still, you’ve got to wonder what all the fuss regarding this band is about, really.
Exodus
Having built a reputation early on for being a most energetic live act, Exodus proved to still deliver exceptionally well in the live environment, while naturally not being quite as mobile as they used to be in their twenties. Taking to the stage with a ferocious version of “Bonded By Blood”, the band went through the title track of its classic debut with conviction. The voice of Rob Dukes, the band’s front man for the last three years, is unfortunately just as mono tone live as it is in studio, with exception for the more mid-tempo crunch of songs like “Blacklist” and crowd pleaser “Toxic Waltz”, where he actually bears slight resemblance to former vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza, emulating the melodies of his predecessor.
As a live entertainer, he manages to partly compensate though, despite his mentioned disappointment in not seeing any tits in the audience on the band’s current Euro trek and the typical routine of aiding the audience “motherfuckers”, taking off his sweat drenched vest well into the band’s set and tossing it to an unsuspecting member of the audience. He praises the crowd reaction on this gig, noting Stockholm to be the best place to have as the final night of the tour. Indeed, the reception seemed to only strengthen as Exodus proceeded with their gig. The majority of the selection of songs played were mostly taken from Bonded By Blood and the three most recent releases Tempo of the Damned, Shovel Headed Killing Machine, and The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A, with the likes of “War Is My Shepherd”, “Deathamphetamine” and “Funeral Hymn” being meshed with early material such as “And Then There Were None” and “Strike of the Beast”.
As a treat for the Stockholm audience, the title track of Fabulous Disaster was also played, the aforementioned “Toxic Waltz” (unleashed after a “toyful” doodling of Nazareth’s “Hair of the Dog” and a small Metallica medley, consisting of the likes of “Motorbreath”, “Metal Militia” and “Enter Sandman”) thankfully not being the only song taken from that offering. As joyful it is to have drummer Tom Hunting back in the Exodus fold, the band’s best trait will always be the guitar work, with the addition of Heathen extraordinaire Lee Altus making a great sparring partner to band leader Gary Holt, the guitar duels are aplenty as always, while bassist Jack Gibson marks a well familiar face by now, having been in the band for more than a decade already.
Definitely a welcome return of Thrash Metal’s finest to Stockholm, and a fitting night to spend the end of summer. Also special kudos to the low price merchandise on offer. And, although it’s not up to the band, but let’s try to make it a shorter time span than nineteen years before next visit, right guys?
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