EXHORDER's KYLE THOMAS: 'We Have A Very Big' Record 'Label Right Now That's Been Very, Very Active In Pursuing Us'

In a new interview with Scott Davidson of Chicago's Rebel Radio, vocalist/guitarist Kyle Thomas of thrash and groove trailblazers EXHORDER spoke about a possible follow-up to the band's fourth full-length album, "Defectum Omnium", which came out in March 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records. The 56-year-old New Orleans-based singer, who also fronts doom metal legends TROUBLE, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's kind of funny because I did an interview and I mentioned in the interview that we're not currently under contract with a label. And then Blabbermouth picks up the story, and that's the headline they chose, was we don't have a label. And I felt like it made us look like no one cares, and it's not true. We actually have a very big label right now that's been very, very active in pursuing us. We're just not in a hurry because we've got the resources to do this on our own without a label, so we're considering doing that. But it is nice to know that at least one high-profile label out there wants us. There's also another one that's a little smaller than that one. So, we have multiple labels that are interested in signing this band. But that's not the way it was presented on Blabbermouth. Go figure."

Kyle added: "You know how it is. Most people don't read the story. They read the headline and then proceed to have a contest to see who can make the dumbest comments in the world."

Asked how the writing process for EXHORDER has changed compared to how it was four decades ago, Thomas said: "Well, it's definitely a different process because I'm the only one left of the lineups from back then, so it's obviously going to be different. But the evolution started before the lineup that we have now.

"Back in '93-ish, after we did [our second album, 1992's] 'The Law' — 'The Law' was such a techy, almost proggy album that we decided we didn't want to be that anymore. So the plan moving forward for the album that followed 'The Law', and we were going to do an album in '93, it was going to be a lot more structured songs, a little more away from the thrashy thing and more into where we were going with grooves and melody and stuff. So, we've had some people, when [2019's] 'Mourn The Southern Skies' came out, complain that it was a drastic change in style. It's, like, I hate to tell y'all this, but that was going to happen in 1993. Because that was the plan.

"We were never a true 100% metal band. We were never a true 100% punk band. We were never a true anything," Kyle explained. "We did what we wanted to, and we always did what we wanted to, and that's really the tradition that we have. Now, obviously it would be ridiculous if we came out and did like a reggae beat. It would be dumb. So there's some things you just don't wanna do, 'cause they don't make sense. But that's why we have such drastic stylistic differences in some of the material of the last two albums. 'Cause we're expanding."

Thomas added: "I'm 50-something years old. I'm not an angry young man anymore. I don't know what an angry young man thinks like anymore. So I just have to find a new way to get motivated to write things. And the goal is always for us to — when we finish the songs and we listen them back, we have to be honest with ourselves and say, 'Does it belong on an EXHORDER album?' And even if it's stylistically different, does it still sound like EXHORDER? So that's the trick right there. And there have been a few songs along the way in the last five, seven years that we've been working on new material where we were, like, 'Nah, let's save this one for something else, 'cause it just doesn't fit.'"

This past September, Kyle told Brutal Planet Media about why EXHORDER made the decision to reunite nine years ago after a six-year hiatus: "I think just the promise of seeing through unfinished business, and to be fair, the demand for it. We were approached by a management team that believed in the band and felt, like, 'You're crazy leaving this on the table. This could really work for you.' And as a result, here we are nine years later, and the band's bigger than it's ever been. So he was right. And it took some revolving door of people in the band coming and going. But as of right now, this core of this band is Jason VieBrooks [on bass] and myself [on vocals and guitar], with Pat O'Brien [on guitar] now in tow. So the three of us share a very similar vision. We're all very zen and business-wise linear with each other. So, [we're] friends that have a common goal in business, and it's working."

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.

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.