Exodus "Fabulous Disaster": Bleeding Priest's Bay Area Metal Spotlight #7

What's up metalheads, and welcome to another edition of Bleeding Priest Bay Area Metal Spotlight. To celebrate the release of the new Nefarious song last week and the band's introduction to the world, I'm going to cover one of the members of Nefarious’s previous bands. And this particular band is one I love very much.

The record I’m choosing as my favorite is not the usual pick for most fans. I'd say like 98% of Exodus fans would choose their debut album, but not me. That’s right—Bonded by Blood is not my favorite Exodus album. I love it, don’t get me wrong. It’s one of the greatest thrash metal albums of all time. I’d say it’s a contender for best debut thrash metal album ever—and certainly better than any of the Big Four’s debut albums. So yes, I love Bonded by Blood… but I love this album a little more, for many reasons.

Exodus really hit their stride with Fabulous Disaster. Tempo-wise, they were playing thrash proper—nice and fast. If you think about it, Bonded by Blood really isn’t that fast of an album. I mean, Kill 'Em All is faster than Bonded by Blood. But Fabulous Disaster? The tempos are perfect—fast, aggressive, the way Bay Area thrash metal should sound. The guitar tone could rip a four-year-old’s face off.

And let’s talk about Tom Hunting—his drumming improved on this album by leaps and bounds. I’m kind of glossing over their sophomore release, Pleasures of the Flesh. To be honest, when that album came out, I found it disappointing. The songs are good—“Chemi-Kill,” the title track, “Deranged”—they’re killer. But there are a couple of forgettable tunes. Not the case with Fabulous Disaster. Every song stands on its own, memorable, sequenced perfectly. Both sides of the record end strong. There’s not a weak moment.

My biggest issue with Pleasures of the Flesh is the drum sound. It just sounds weird. I remember partying with Gary Holt after a Lucifer’s Hammer show in San Francisco. Late night at a mutual friend’s house in the Mission, we were listening to Pleasures of the Flesh, and I asked him why the drums sounded so off. I wish I remembered what he said exactly—it was a long time ago. But something went wrong with the drum recording, so they had to sample all of Tom’s drums. It sucked the life out of the performance.

Tom Hunting plays with a lot of grace notes—those little ghost hits between the main accents that give a drummer’s playing color. You can’t hear any of that on Pleasures—just the main hits. When I first saw Exodus play “Deranged” live, I was blown away by the tom rolls. Heh heh, Tom doing tom rolls. On the album, you don’t hear those rolls at all.

But on Fabulous Disaster? His drums sound like Tom Hunting. Clean, crisp, tight. He kicks ass. His double bass is flying. It may not be his peak, but he’s definitely climbing the mountain here. The whole production is razor sharp. Zetro sounds awesome. Even the cover of War’s “Low Rider” works! It’s fun, fits the flow, and it’s placed perfectly on side one.

I even like the album cover. It was shot in their manager’s garage in the Haight-Ashbury. They turned it into a clubhouse vibe with all their old flyers, while outside, the world’s going to hell. Bombs dropping. It’s a fun visual.

I saw Exodus twice on this tour—once on the Headbangers Ball Tour with Anthrax and Helloween at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center, and again at the Fillmore with Forbidden opening. That might have been for Pleasures, but I definitely caught them on Fabulous Disaster. And they stole the show. That’s saying a lot, because at the time, Anthrax were one of the best live acts around. I’ve seen Anthrax blow away KISS, Iron Maiden, even Ozzy—but Exodus owned the night.

Now Rick Hunolt’s in Nefarious, and you can tell he’s stoked to be playing thrash again. He hasn’t missed a beat. His solos are still amazing. And the solos on Fabulous Disaster? The H-team—just forget about it. Flawless.

So yeah. I just think Fabulous Disaster is a little more thrash than Bonded by Blood. I love the tempos. I love the vibe. I love the whole damn thing.

Yes—Fabulous Disaster.

–Bleeding Priest