I had seen Exodus a couple of times before, but both times on a festival. Now I finally got the chance to see them on a headliner tour and with them they brought the relatively new, English band Biomechanical.

Reading the biography on their website, I expected some sort of nu-metal band band. Biomechanical turned out to be more a thrash/speed band with high-pitched vocals, vaguely reminding me of early Helloween. And as such they were quite enjoyable. They ended with a cover of Judas Priest, “Pain killer”, which was reasonably well-done – a lot like the original with some changes here and there – especially the guitar solos.

Then there was Exodus who have only one original member left these days. They played a set comprised mostly of songs of the last two albums and the classic albums “Bonded by Blood” and “Fabulous Disaster”; kicking off with “Bonded By Blood”. The band did impress me much more than they did before; all of them were quite active on stage and seemingly enjoying themselves. The sound was excellent – all instruments were audible and in balance. However, the new singer, Rob Dukes, don’t impress me a bit; he is monotonous and his asking for people to form a circle-pit became annoying. Paul Bostaph seems to fit much better in Exodus than he ever did in Slayer, although the earlier songs seem a bit to easy for him. After the hour-long set they ended with “Shovel Headed Kill Machine” and the band treated us with an encore of “Fabulous Disaster” and “The Scar Sprangled Banner”. They wanted to play another song, but were forbidden due to time contraints, although it was only about 23.15.

Approximate set list:

• Bonded by Blood
• Raze
• Deathamphetamine
• Piranha
• Black list
• A Lesson in Violence
• The Last Act of Defiance
• War is my Sheperd
• I Am Abomination
• .44 Magnus Opus
• And then there were none
• Shovel headed Kill Machine

Encores

• Fabulous Disaster
• The Scar Sprangled Banner