What was your first metal concert? Think about it. It can be a local show, watching a friend in their garage, or maybe you were one of those kids lucky enough to have a "cool" dad that took you to Ozzfest every year. There's no wrong answer, but I think we can all agree that some answers are better than others. Here's mine: Avenged Sevenfold. And you know what, I'll defend those boys from Orange County until my body is cold in the ground (thank god we don't have a comment section here at Heavy Blog is Heavy).
But you know what a really cool answer is? EXODUS.
Obviously I will regale you with play by play moments from their epic set, but I want to drive one thing home here at the top: every generation of metalhead understands that all of what we have today can be traced to our metalhead forebears, and that list of progenitors includes Exodus. The number of young metalheads at this show was absolutely beautiful; many with their metalhead elders, some venturing on their own, and even a small table with parents waiting patiently in their private iPhone worlds for their little demons to be done thrashing. Not many bands can continue to cultivate new fans after 41 years, but I have the pictures to prove that Exodus's influence spans across all ages.
But let's start with the openers, DEAD HEAT. Accompanied as always by their Eddie-inspired mascot, Bones, these boys are keeping crossover alive and well. From the moment the first chord was struck on their 2023 EP opener, "Endless Torment", lead singer Chris Ramos displayed the same level of ruthless energy. Moving into "2 Cents" and "Look At It Closely" from their last full length, World at War, it became clear to me just how appropriate it was to have this new generation of crossover grace the stage, opening for Exodus who played such a heavy hand in forming the basis for the genre. The pit churned throughout their set, and by the time the chant laden "Age of DH" was played my mental notebook keeping track of every influence heard in this set was already full. From the gang vocals of crossover forebears like D.R.I. to the off kilter, yet so appropriate clean vox a la Pantera ("reality is crashing down agaaaain"), I was impressed by how unique sounding the total package of their set was. I can't wait to see these guys again.
Next up was Candy, and while I scold myself for still peeping r/hardcore at times, I couldn't help but agree with the sentiment of surprise from that subreddit when Candy was announced as support for this thrashers' delight of a tour. Candy is a group that only recently came onto my radar, and a band that at first I had trouble fitting into the theme of this tour. They're metallic hardcore, if you want the easy definition, but with heavy traces of industrial, techno, nu metal, and even hip hop, they're really a group that defies definition (so much so that Encyclopedia Metallum doesn't have them listed). But, about halfway through their set, when they dove into their Cronenburg inspired "eXistenZ" it hit me: if Candy has influence from everything, agnostic of sub-genre, it all can can be traced back to the source: Exodus. But, I digress from the philosophising – Candy's set was fantastic. Lead singer Michael Quick entered an absolute state of otherworldly trance throughout the performance, rarely opening his eyes between screams, and delivering every word with pure power. The rhythm section of this group was felt in my bones, and when the opening bass/drum section of "You Will Never Get Me" played I looked around and saw the nods of all ages in the zone, a pit of hardcore dancers, with battle vested thrasher on the outskirts. Now that's what I call unity.
Speaking of hardcore dancers, I was so very disappointed that HAVOK didn't bring their infamous "NO KARATE IN THE PIT" shirt to the merch options. Regardless, I can tell you one thing is certain: Havok absolutely rips. I wrote a sizable portion of my undergrad thesis to "Time Is Up" in 2011 when these Colorado legends were first picking up steam, so when they opened with "Point of No Return" the 20 year old buried deep inside my aching frame absolutely lost it. Most thrashers know David Sanchez is many things, an amazing performer among them, but it was such a joy to see every member on stage display signs of well-sharpened stage presence. That shouldn't be a surprise when you look at their current lineup consisting of Brett Rechtfertig on guitar of Nephilim, Pete Webber of Machine Head on drums, and Nick Schendzielos of Cephalic Carnage on bass. When the opening bass notes of "Hang 'Em High" rang out, the crowd absolutely lost it, and a sea of crowd surfers hit the photo pit. One of the best parts of this set was watching a grey haired man in a well-worn battlevest lift a kid half his size up to crowd surf. I'm fairly certain the entire event was live streamed from said kid's iPhone as he clutched in a death grip across the heads of others.
With the crowd sufficiently warmed up, it was time for the main event with the legendary Exodus, the band that doesn't get nearly enough credit for influencing so much of what we love. I couldn't help but notice that their amps were so incredibly simple. No stacks of Marshalls or Peavys. In fact I couldn't even tell what they were save for having glow in the dark pentagrams in the cabs. The message was clear: you're here to see us, and we will give you a show. The equipment is entirely secondary. They opened with "The Last Act of Defiance", an absolutely legendary tale retelling the horrors of the 1980 New Mexico State Penitentiary riot. I didn't expect this to be what they opened with, by by Satan's guiding hand I'm so happy they did. It was not only amazing to hear lead singer Steve "Zetro" Souza scream "THE LAST ACT OF DEFIANCE" but to see him do so is an entirely other plane of privilege. Surrounded by the mythic Gary Holt on the right, who has two places in thrash history as the late Jeff Hanneman's permanent replacement, and Lee Altus on the left, it was nothing but a flurry of hair through the first two songs.
The highlight of their set was hearing the perfectly synced chant to "Fabulous Disaster", mouths open and firsts raised in the air across generations of the crowd. You could tell from the look on Zetro's face how much this meant to him, and the rest of the band I'm sure, with the script flipped and the audience performing for the talent. If fans know anything about Exodus it's that the band has had a wild ride of membership changes over the years with Tom Hunting their drummer being the only original member. When it came time to play "And Then There Were None" from their first full length, Zetro rightfully paid homage to Paul Baloff, the singer from Bonded by Blood which is sadly the only album he appears on. Their set overall encompassed songs from every single era of their 41 years, from 2010's Shovel Headed War Machine, to their seminal Fabulous Disaster. I've never seen a pit quite as varied as the one that was spun up for "Toxic Waltz", a song that can be traced back way before our hyper-specificity of genre, or Reddit arguments about crowd killing, and it made me wonder if we were better of back then. No matter: I was just happy to be there.
