"Four years we have waited"... And there's my share of melodramatics. 2014 is the year EXODUS fans have been waiting for ever (unlikely) patient, because American all-star Thrashers return with "Blood In, Blood Out". Let's face it; the "Exhibit" albums were pretty hard to beat; one can expect great musicians do always outdo themselves on the next effort, and I have a strong feeling that's what Exodus have done. Set apart significant from its predecessors, it features the return of legendary vocalist Steve, who's last appearance on an EXODUS record was in 2004.

Is it what one could expect from an EXODUS album? I sure as hell wouldn't think so from the opening track, "Black 13", which is begins heavily Industrialised; it's constructed around a march, strangely comical in a bleak kind of fashion. Sure enough, fortunately I was wrong, for the molecular-edged riffs of EXODUS begin to lacerate alongside the gritty, gruff expletives of Steve. Blistering, technical show-offery is rightly to be had on "Collateral Damage" and "Salt the Wound", which pave the way for the killing that is to come on "Body Harvest". One of the album's highlights, it takes a jarring, mind-bending approach to riffs; retaining the EXODUS epicness, which we will later hear on full display, but ends up refreshing what could have been turning into a bland album. Great Thrash Metal, I find, is that which doesn't stagnate, and EXODUS avoiding stagnation like the plague is what puts them and the top of the scene.

"Wrapped In The Arms of Rage" has to be one of the best tracks the band has written in years. Glorious musicianship embodies this track, the riffs firing off round after round of crunching and growling blasts of energy. Paying close attention to detail, even the chord progressions are incredibly catchy, as is the stellar lead work. It's as if the band took the best riffs of the album, and succeeded in condensing them into one track, because around every corner, one is assaulted in one way or another. "Food For the Worms" takes things down a few notches in tempo... Initially. In a spastic, EXODUS kind of fashion, the album's heaviest chugs are spun around on the heel into the album's most ridiculous, ostentatious barrages of riffs.

What can I say? It's a goddamn EXODUS record; such a connotation should scream highly probably excellence. From a first-hand listener, you won't be disappointed.<