HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Exhibit B: The Human Condition – Exodus

On January 15th 2025, EXODUS surprised their fanbase when they announced that Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza, their popular frontman was leaving the band. This seemingly came from out of nowhere; there had been no significant rumblings of discontent in the EXODUS camp and the band were expected to be recording a new album. Zetro was beloved by the fans, and their last record – 2021’s Persona Non Grata – was a hit, and from the outside, everything seemed rosy. But what made eyebrows rise even higher was the announcement of who their new singer would be.

Taking Zetro’s place on the microphone was none other than Rob Dukes, who had already enjoyed one stint fronting the band from 2005 to 2014. During that period, he’d recorded three original albums with them, performed on an updated version of their classic debut Bonded By Blood, and forged an impressive legacy of his own. He had a reputation as a ferocious frontman; a shaven headed, tattooed and scarred figure who looked like a death match wrestler who’d changed his career and his vocal style reflected this. EXODUS were never an easy-listening band by any means, but with Dukes on the mic, they were one of the nastiest and darkest thrash metal acts out there.

This is especially evident on his last recording with them to date; Exhibit B: The Human Condition. This 2010 release is arguably the meanest in their entire discography and while it doesn’t enjoy the classic status of some of their other records, it is well worth revisiting. It’s a blood-spattered epic, with songs about serial killers, war crimes, and school shootings, all written with a bitterly cynical vibe. The CD inlay included a centrefold showing the severed heads of the band members lying in a pile, and while it isn’t a quintessential masterpiece, Exhibit B is a flawed gem and perhaps their most underrated release.

It was also delivered much later than expected. It was the direct follow-up to The Atrocity Exhibition…Exhibit A, EXODUS’ eighth album from 2007 and the two were originally meant to be brought out in close proximity. Guitarist Gary Holt’s responsibilities with SLAYER and various other issues however resulted in a lengthy gap between them, but in hindsight, this might have worked in Exhibit B’s favour. The delay made it seem less like the second half and more like a complete body of work in its own right.

Plus, The Atrocity Exhibition wasn’t very good. It starts off reasonably well, with Riot Act and Funeral Hymn being an excellent opening duo, but it soon collapses under the weight of its ambitions. The songs are needlessly long and self-important, there’s a distinct dip in the energy and it winds up committing the worst crime possible for a thrash album; it’s dull. Nowadays, it’s mainly known for Bonded By Banjo, a bluegrass version of Bonded By Blood that was hidden at the end.

In contrast, Exhibit B is far more entertaining. The songs are still overly long and all of EXODUS’ worst habits are on full display, but there’s a greater sense of urgency to them and the songwriting is stronger. The choruses are catchier, the melodies more enjoyable, and there’s even the odd moment where they could have found themselves on mainstream rock radio, providing no-one bothered to read the lyrics sheet.

Tracks like Downfall might have been instant earworms, but the subject matter was consistently unpleasant. Opener The Ballad Of Leonard And Charles has a misleading title and is about as far removed from Sweet Child Of Mine as it’s possible to get. It’s a rabid, fast-paced thrasher that tells the story of the murderers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, and Dukes spits his lyrics with all the venom of an unhinged rattlesnake. It’s a gory and violent way to kick off, but it’s only the start.

For over an hour, Exhibit B is an album about mankind’s base instincts being unleashed in their full horror. Burn, Hollywood Burn focuses on a desire to see vacuous celebrities being killed en masse, March Of The Sycophants is about the hypocrisy of Christian nationalism, and there’s a continuing theme of death, dismemberment and burning hatred. And that’s without mentioning Class Dismissed, a deliriously violent song told from the point of view of a school shooter. It’s brutally in-your-face and borderline offensive, but thanks to Dukes’ over-the-top vocal delivery, it somehow verges on being darky comic.

The centrepiece though is Nanking, which even by EXODUS standards, is a hellacious way to spend seven minutes. It recounts the tragedy of the Nanking massacre, a horrific event from the Second Sino-Japanese war (a precursor to the Second World War) that remains a contentious issue to this day. This atrocity isn’t that well known in the west, but it involved the Imperial Japanese Army rampaging through the titular Chinese city and committing acts of utter barbarism against the civilian population. If you’re not familiar with it, the Wikipedia page gives a detailed run down but be warned, it’s an agonising read and the song itself is similarly harrowing. There’s no glorious heroism in this, EXODUS are a band who are willing to take the very worst of humanity, push it right into your face and force you to look.

For all of the strong points though, Exhibit B has a few issues that prevent it from being an unmissable EXODUS milestone, and the sheer bloody length of it is the most noticeable. If you include the bonus track, it’s eighty minutes long and it doesn’t let up for one second. It’s a spiteful, depressing and horribly bleak listen, and could really have done with being edited more ruthlessly. Democide and the never-ending The Sun Is My Destroyer could have both been removed from the track list without damaging the quality, and we’d still have an album that’s twice the length of Reign In Blood.

That goes for the individual tracks too. There’s plenty of occasions on Exhibit B where the riffs drag on or there’s an unnecessary extra verse and it does the band a disservice. It’s a very good album, but it could have been a great one if they hadn’t tried to get every single idea into it.

With all that in mind though, Exhibit B remains a worthwhile purchase for any dedicated thrasher. It’s also a timely reminder of how distinctly uncompromising EXODUS are. The thrash metal revival was cooling off dramatically by 2010, but rather than chase acceptance with songs about beer and skateboarding zombies, EXODUS opted to take the genre to a terrifying new level of extremity. This band are not mellowing with age, they’re getting heavier. Now that Rob Dukes has returned to the fold, we can only wait to see what fresh hell they’re going to drag into the light.

Exhibit B: The Human Condition was originally released on May 7th, 2010 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Like EXODUS on Facebook.