While most of us mellow somewhat with age, thrash metal warriors Exodus are peddling more in reverse.
Their brand of musical intensity that has continued unabated for over four decades has never been more apparent than on the bands upcoming eleventh studio album, Persona Non Grata, which only reinforces the bands undeniable claims to be at the forefront of heavy metal, period.
With album set for release on November 19, vocalist Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza caught up with HEAVY to go over what we can expect and how little things have changed with Exodus.
"It's very brutally heavy,” he teased of the album. “Its in the vein of typical Exodus. Sheer violence, sheer brutality, definitely a thrash metal record straight in your face.”
From a lyrical standpoint, Persona Non Grata touches on themes of modern societal disgust and degradation, two things unfortunately thrust deep into our mental psyche after the events of the last 18 months.
"It wasnt done purposely like that,” Souza offered, “there just seemed to be so much bother to pick from. It seemed that everything that we wrote about on this record lyrically has hit a chord with a lot of people, so there's a lot of socially aware... It was written in the middle of everything last year so - even though it seems like we're all still in the middle of it. It was written pretty much at the height of it all. The anger and the angst definitely comes from everything that we were seeing everywhere."
In the full interview Steve runs us through the album in greater detail, divulges the translation of the album title and how it relates, musical DNA and how it contributes to the bands eternal sound, the two singles released so far and the meaning behind them, the bands shortest ever song on the album which clocks in at just three minutes, tour plans and more.