Exodus

Exhibit B: The Human Condition (Nuclear Blast)

Like Bay Area 1980s thrash kin Testament and its 2008 reboot The Formation of Damnation, Exodus’ fourth disc with exhorter Rob Dukes and ninth LP overall – begun from sessions for 2007’s The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A – atomizes first-wave cassette values. Grade-fuckin’-A pummel “Hammer and Life,” “Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer),” and closer “Good Riddance” bronze lifers Gary Holt and Tom Hunting on longer knots (“The Ballad of Leonard and Charles”), although a few too many (“Democide”). Nitro-core: “Burn, Hollywood, Burn.” Third acts reign.

***.5

This article appears in June 18 • 2010.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.