EXODUS — Bonded by Blood (review)

EXODUS — Bonded by Blood album cover Album · 1985 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Kingcrimsonprog
Bonded by Blood has always been hailed as a landmark in the history of Thrash Metal, and Exodus, although enjoying a renewed popularity today have always been a seriously underrated and unlucky band.

The album has an interesting story behind it; with delays, mistrust, shooting spitballs made out of the record contract and involvement with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, but you can find this out for yourself in the liner notes.

To be honest, although Bonded By Blood is a good album, the reality of the music contained on the disc is slightly different to the reputation the album enjoys as a result of its historical value. There are some flaws, lack of variety, cheesy lyrics and artwork and bad production being chief among them, although these flaws apply pretty much to every early Thrash Metal album they can be felt more keenly when listening to Bonded By Blood.

When you get past the flaws, there is some fantastic material to enjoy, including many of the songs that have made it into up the band’s live show for their entire career such as ‘Piranha,’ and ‘A Lesson In Violence.’

Hands down, the best song on the album has to be the opener, the title track ‘Bonded By Blood.’ This song, as with all songs on this album, is a punchy up tempo number with numerous guitar solos and a slew of distorted power chords. The chorus is one of the most memorable in the entire genre.

The album is noteworthy as contains some of the Band’s only material with original singer, the late Paul Baloff. One of the albums greatest flaws has always been its production and this remaster goes a long way towards fixing it, the album will always have a blocky tom sound, as well as muddy bass guitars.

While it cannot live up to the hype, Bonded by Blood is certainly worth your attention for its impressive level of musicianship and collection of classic songs.
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