Review:
Exodus' 13th release in 16 years happens to be a rerecording of the classic debut full length (Bonded By Blood), titled Let There Be Blood. Other than the lineup being 3/5 different than the original recording, the album also features a previously unreleased track entitled Hell's Breath that was co-written by former member and current Metallica lead guitarist, Kirk Hammet.
Since this is an exact replica of the original album its hard to offer up much discussion about this record. The only praise I can give this release is the beefed up production. The songs on a quality level never sounded better but that's not to say that the original sounds unlistenable. If Exodus' reason for rerecording the album was solely based on the production of the original then they could have saved themselves a lot of effort because the original, especially after the remaster, is definitely still listenable.
The release of this album definitely questions the real reason the band decided to use studio time to remake their best album. The band, mostly Gary Holt, states that they were unhappy with the quality of the album and they wanted to pay homage to Paul Baloff by making his songs sound better with the benefit of modern production. Holt also went onto say that he and Baloff had talked about it prior to Paul's death. Unfortunately we'll never know if those conversations ever happened. Personally, and I'm not alone in my opinions, I believe the record was remade solely for money. Bonded By Blood is one of those albums that never needed to be remade. This is definitely a case of the band cashing-in.
Although the songs sound amazing on this record I compare it to when Anthrax decided to rerecord all the Belledonna songs with John Bush. Those songs sounded great but that album also never needed to happen. I also believe had the intent really been to tribute Baloff they should have went with using Steve "Zetro" Souza on vocals because he was the band's longest running vocalist, sounded incredibly similar to Baloff, and spent most of the bands career singing those songs live anyway.
If you are a fan of the original recording of the album then I can't recommend this album to you because it's not necessary. If you absolutely loathe the production of the original or you never heard the original then maybe this album is for you. Me I'm going to stick to the original.
Your Profile/Options: [
Offline
2 
