UMUR "Force of Habit" is the 5th full-length studio album by US, California based thrash metal act Exodus. The album was released through Capitol Records in August 1992. It´s the successor to "Impact Is Imminent" from 1990 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as bassist Rob McKillop has been replaced by Mike Butler. "Force of Habit" was the last studio album by Exodus for a number of years, as internal turmoil and the shifting musical climate of the 90s made the band consider their options and disband in 1994. Lead vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza had already left in 1992, but the band continued to play shows after he jumped ship. Exodus would reunite shortly in 1997 with original lead vocalist Paul Baloff to play some shows, which produced the "Another Lesson in Violence" live album in 1997, but they folded again in 1998. The untimely death of Baloff in 2002 paved the way for a reunion with Souza, which resulted in the band releasing their comeback album "Tempo of the Damned" in 2004.

Stylistically the material on "Force of Habit" is unmistakably the sound of Exodus. Raw, aggressive, and highly energetic thrash metal played by technically skilled musicians featuring Souza´s sandpaper raw vocals in front. So far so good. The material on the 13 track, 68:40 minutes long album are well written, relatively catchy, and well produced too. Compared to the raw and unpolished sound production on "Impact Is Imminent (1990)", this one is a much better produced album. While the material are well written and the band also make sure there are some variation on the album in the form of the more traditional heavy metal/hard rock styled track "Good Day to Die" and the covers of "Bitch" by The Rolling Stones, and "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello, almost 70 minutes of playing time is at least a couple of tracks too long.

In many ways though "Force of Habit" is Exodus back on track after the slightly disappointing "Impact Is Imminent (1990)". Unfortunately for Exodus it was pretty much released on deaf ears, as their brand of thrash metal had become out of fashion by 1992 faster than you could say death metal/alternative hard rock. The music industry and music consumers can sometimes be faithless/illoyal when bigger money/something new and more interesting appears. It´s a shame because although "Force of Habit" is not the most remarkable Exodus release, it´s still a good quality thrash metal album and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is fully deserved.

Kingcrimsonprog The 1990s had a very mixed effect on Thrash Metal bands. Some, like Megadeth and Metallica toned down their sound and became superstars (or bigger stars than they already were). Some, like Sodom and at one point Testament, decided to incorporate some influences from the Death Metal scene and get even harder. Some, like Heathen, Hirax and Death Angel broke up.

One of Thrash’s most important bands, San Fransisco’s Exodus had some line-up trouble, bereavement and a whole lot of confusion. Right before it all went upside down, they released their fifth album, Force Of Habit, in 1992 (the year after Nirvana’s Nevermind album).

Like Anthrax’s Sound Of White Noise, Testament’s Low, Forbidden’s Distortion and so many other Thrash band’s albums between 1992-1999, the album is not the all out speed and violence fans had come to expect. There were new ideas, slower tempos and alternative lyrical themes than just the usual things like blood, war, slaughter and the glory of metal. There was a fatter production sound, and more of a Rock feel than their previous all-Metal all the time material.

If you just want face-melters like ‘Piranha,’ ‘Thrash Under Pressure’ and ‘Faster Than You’ll Ever Live To Be’ from previous records then there is some material here that may come as a bit of a shock. The single ‘A Good Day To Die’ has a southern groove like Pepper Keenan-era C.O.C. The 11-minute ‘Architect Of Pain’ is a dynamic, slow, sludgy number with an almost Alice In Chains feel. The Rolling Stones cover ‘Bitch’ has a horn section and ‘Pump It Up’ has sing-along choruses and a punky tom based drumbeat.

There are a few bones thrown to Thrash fans though. Other single ‘Thorn In My Side’ has a crunchy riff and great energy. ‘Feeding Time At The Zoo’ & ‘Count Your Blessings’ pick up the speed. ‘Me, Myself & I’ has razor sharp riffing, gang vocals and a chorus which could fit on any of the previous three albums.

After this album, the band would disband, then later reunite with original singer Paul Baloff and release a live album, before disappearing again, and going through numerous line-up shifts over the years, but releasing some of their best albums to date along the way (Tempo Of The Damned for example is definitely worth looking into).

History has sort of forgotten about (or intentionally overlooked) this album. How do I feel about it, you ask? It’s a bit of a strange record, but interesting. If I was ranking all of Exodus’ albums, this would be dead last. It however, is not bad. Uneven maybe, but still worth your time. It is refreshing to hear them thinking outside the box, but its also good it didn’t last for too long and they got back to doing what they do best later.