Kirk Hammett cut his teeth with Exodus in the early 1980’s before becoming part of Metallica in 1983 and shooting to the stratosphere. Metallica has continued to wave the flag of metal all over the world and in recent years has come back to it’s roots. Those roots have always been implanted in San Francisco Bay Area thrash. As the purveyors that took the sound all the way to the top, Metallica have continued to stay relevant in the thrash metal scene. It’s great to announce that Mr. Hammett will lend some of his playing to the new Exodus album and performs a guitar solo on the song ‘Salt In The Wound.’ This past weekend at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con, Hammett joined Exodus onstage for a rendition of ‘Scar Spangled Banner’ and ‘Godzilla’ as the band performed as part of the ‘Fear Fest After Party.’ It was some good foreshadowing to what we can expect out of his appearance on the record
Exodus recently had vocalist Steve Souza return for the third time to the band and during the weekend he spoke about what it was like to return to Exodus once again. He did not elaborate too much on the specifics of his departure and subsequent return, but did explain to the fans that the timing was now right for everything. On his return to Exodus, the frontman discussed how growing up and becoming some of the older guys on the block allowed them to move past certain previous obstacles. Souza spoke about how the air had largely cleared from the situation, “It wasn’t right for me, especially the last time. It was all me. It just wasn’t right. Now it’s perfect, everything is perfect, the stars are aligned.”
Another interesting announcement from the returning vocalist was that veteran fellow thrasher Chuck Billy of Testament has now taken a role in the band’s management structure and recently helped Souza during recording sessions for the new album. The singer had this to say about Billy: “He and I have known each other forever, obviously. So we work really well together. We know each other really well. So if I am doing my vocals in there and he’s there, I can trust him to go, ‘no way Zet, doesn’t sound good like that.’” We can for sure be excited about the new Exodus album and welcome back a key player to one of the most important bands in thrash metal history.
Check out Kirk and Exodus at Comic Con: