EXODUS Has Already Filmed Three Music Videos For Upcoming Album: 'They're Gonna Be Sick As F***'

San Francisco Bay Area thrashers EXODUS have filmed music videos for three songs from their upcoming studio album, tentatively due next spring via Napalm Records. The clips are being helmed by Jim Louvau, a musical and visual creative artist based in Phoenix, Arizona, who previously worked on EXODUS's music video for the song "The Fires Of Division" from the band's previous LP, 2021's "Persona Non Grata".

On Friday (December 12),EXODUS shared a photo from the "post-video shoot wrap dinner" at Peppermill Steakhouse in Tempe, Arizona via social media and included the following message: "Post video shoot wrap dinner with all but [EXODUS bassist] Jack [Gibson] (earliest flight home tomorrow!) and friends! Three days, three videos done, and they're gonna be sick as fuck. Seriously sick. We couldn't be happier, and we HATE making videos! @jimlouvau makes is fun for all of us!"

Last month, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt told Robb Chavez of Robbs MetalWorks about the band's recently completed follow-up to "Persona Non Grata": "It's fucking awesome. It'll be out next March, I think — March 20 — and it's fucking awesome. I mean, it's so awesome. We're so proud of this record."

According to Holt, EXODUS completed nearly two albums' worth of material during the latest recording sessions, with a view toward releasing the second collection of songs when the first touring cycle is finished.

"80 percent of the follow-up [to EXODUS's next album] is done already," Holt explained. "We just kept working. We never stopped. We were in the studio for two months. And we tend to record by… We all live together in a house, or sometimes we build a studio in a house, and it's like heavy metal summer camp. But we like each other enough to live together still. A lot of bands — that's a rarity. And so we write the whole process. When we started recording, we only had four songs done and a million ideas. And Lee [Altus, longtime EXODUS guitarist] wrote a ton of stuff; he wrote four out of 10 songs on the new album."

Gary also talked about the return of EXODUS singer Rob Dukes, who replaced Steve "Zetro" Souza in January. He said: "It's fucking been amazing. When you hear [Rob's] vocals on this new record, you're gonna shit your pants."

Elaborating on what fans can expect from the new EXODUS material, Holt said: "The new album is so killer, dude. And everybody says that — I know that — but, dude, this album's so good. Me and [EXODUS drummer] Tom Hunting call each other and [I tell him], when I listen to it, it makes me wanna cry, it's so good. It's that fucking good. We made something special."

Asked what it is about the new EXODUS album that is so good, Gary explained: "It's just the songs, dude. It's all about the songs. I mean, it's crushing, but it's all anthems. And it's so varied, this record. So many different aspects of EXODUS are in there, from the blinding speed to the slowest, heaviest shit we've ever done. And Rob's vocals are, like, at the top of the pyramid on this shit."

As for the status of the second collection of new songs EXODUS had written during the most recent sessions, Gary said: "We still gotta record a little bit more to complete it. Our goal, we fell a little bit short. We have eight songs done. It was hard picking which ones go on this, 'cause I still, to this day, I have panic attacks, like, 'I should have put that one on it. That song is so sick.' But you're trying to balance a record. And we just picked what we thought were the best ones for this album."

At this past October's Aftershock festival in Sacramento, California, Holt told Baby Huey and Chasta of the San Francisco radio station 107.7 The Bone that Mark Lewis had mixed the new EXODUS material, which will be released via Napalm Records, and described it as "something else, man… It's crushing, but it's also all anthems. Every song's an anthem. It's awesome. We're super proud of this record."

Lewis had previously worked with MEGADETH, WHITECHAPEL, DEVILDRIVER and BAD WOLVES, among many others.

The follow-up to "Persona Non Grata" will mark the first time in nearly three decades that an EXODUS album hasn't been mixed by Andy Sneap, who has acted as JUDAS PRIEST's producer and touring guitarist for more than seven years.

Gary previously wrote on Instagram about EXODUS's collaboration with Lewis: "First album since 97 to mix with someone else, and it's crushing. Andy said it's time to venture out of our comfort zone and it's amazing. Mark has CRUSHED IT!"

In a recent interview with Chicago's Rebel Radio 92.5 FM as part of the station's 31st-anniversary celebration, Dukes praised the material on EXODUS's upcoming effort, saying: "It's killer. It's the best thing I've ever done with EXODUS. I thought [2010's] 'Exhibit B: [The Human Condition]' was probably some of my best work, and I think this tops it. It's so different than what we've done. We've added so many little different things that it's still EXODUS, but we've definitely stepped outside the box a little bit and tried a few different things and it worked well… It's fast. it's dark, it's awesome, man. It's gonna be a lot of fun to go play these songs live."

Souza joined EXODUS in 1986 after previously fronting the band LEGACY (which later became TESTAMENT). He remained in the band until their hiatus in 1993, but rejoined them for two years from 2002 to 2004. Dukes had joined EXODUS in 2005 (following Souza's departure) and remained until 2014, when Souza rejoined.

Dukes previously joined EXODUS in January 2005 and appeared on four of the band's studio albums — "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" (2005),"The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A" (2007),"Let There Be Blood" (2008, a re-recording of EXODUS's classic 1985 LP, "Bonded By Blood") and "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (2010).

EXODUS played its first concert with Dukes in nearly 11 years on April 5 at the Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly at the Fillmore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Although EXODUS rarely gets mentioned alongside the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX — the aforementioned "Bonded By Blood" LP inspired the likes of TESTAMENT, DEATH ANGEL, VIO-LENCE and many others to launch their careers and is considered one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time.