EXHORDER's KYLE THOMAS On A.I.-Generated Content In Arts: 'I Don't Have A Strong Desire To Use It'

In a new interview with Capital Chaos TV, EXHORDER frontman Kyle Thomas was asked to weigh in on the use of artificial intelligence (A.I.)-generated content in the arts, particularly as some of his peers have admitted to using A.I. for their cover art, posters and even in making music. Thomas said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I don't have a really strong feeling against it, but I don't have a strong desire to use it. So, the way I see it is if you're over 21 and it's available, then you use it; I don't care. But for me, I would rather outsource my work to an artist to do my album artwork."

He continued: "The artwork for [EXHORDER's 2024 album] 'Defectum Omnium' was done by Travis Smith, and I'm sure Travis uses a lot of computer graphics while he makes his art, but he's making the art. And to me, that's fine. But my buddy Scott Guion that I went to high school with, he's an amazing artist. I played in PITTS VS. PREPS with him over the years, but he just most recently did the CORROSION OF CONFORMITY album cover. He's also done murals in Hard Rock Café and House Of Blues, and he's done the last handful of Jazz Fest posters for the New Orleans Jazz Fest. He's an amazing artist. I'd rather see a guy or a girl — doesn't matter, just an artist — I'd rather see a person, a human, get that contract, get that job.

"Basically, A.I., as far as I can tell, and I'm no expert, but it's just kind of a method of electronically picking the brains out of every piece of art or music that's ever been done before and cherry-picking it and putting something together on its own that's kind of like just lifting off everything else," Kyle added. "But the person responsible for directing the A.I. doesn't have to pay out any royalty to the persons that were the actual catalyst for the artwork to be created. So I think that's problematic. That could really put a lot of people out of work. Just like the checkout line at the grocery store when they've got a self-service counter. Well, that's a job they took away from somebody. I'd rather sit in line and let somebody do it for me than have to do it myself. And sometimes it's convenient — if I got four or five things and I'm just throwing it in the bag and going — but I'd rather see a person get that job. I really would."

Drummer Sasha Horn left EXHORDER in March 2026 in order to "focus on his personal life". Temporarily replacing him on the road this past spring was Corey Pierce of GOD FORBID fame. A permanent replacement for Horn has not yet been announced.

EXHORDER's fourth full-length album, "Defectum Omnium", came out in March 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records.

Featuring 12 tracks and ominous cover artwork by Travis Smith (KATATONIA, OPETH),"Defectum Omnium" followed EXHORDER's critically revered 2019 release "Mourn The Southern Skies".

"Defectum Omnium" was recorded in part at Fat Track Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio with engineer Rob Nadler. The LP marked EXHORDER's first with former CANNIBAL CORPSE guitarist Pat O'Brien, who made his live debut with the latter group at the 2022 Maryland Deathfest.

The Maryland Deathfest gig took place three months after guitarist Marzi Montazeri left EXHORDER, explaining at the time in a statement that he "decided to no longer be a part of it."

Shortly after the Houston-based Montazeri announced his departure from EXHORDER, the remaining members of the band — Thomas, bassist Jason VieBrooks and Horn — said that they and Marzi had been "moving in different directions" and assured fans that they would "continue to thrive"

Thomas is now the sole remaining founding member of EXHORDER, which released its debut album, "Slaughter In The Vatican", way back in 1990. In February 2020, EXHORDER parted ways with its original guitarist Vinnie LaBella, who wrote much of the material on "Mourn The Southern Skies". The remaining members of the group later issued a statement saying that they would fulfill their "touring and recording obligations for 2020 and beyond."

EXHORDER released two albums in the early 1990s through the Roadrunner label — the aforementioned "Slaughter In The Vatican" and 1992's "The Law" — before breaking up, with Kyle going on to form FLOODGATE and also briefly appearing live as the vocalist for TROUBLE, which he later joined on a full-time basis (and is still a member of).

EXHORDER is cited by many as the originator of the riff-heavy power-groove approach popularized by PANTERA.