GARY HOLT Is 'Beyond Thrilled' With Upcoming EXODUS Album: 'It's Killer As F***'

EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt says that he is "beyond thrilled" with the band's upcoming follow-up to 2021's "Persona Non Grata" album. The 61-year-old musician, who is also a member of SLAYER, took to his Instagram on Thursday (October 23) to thank the EXODUS fans in Latin America for an "incredible" tour and to say: "Now, no shows until next March! Next time you see us, it's new album time. And what an album it is. I know, everyone always says 'best thing ever' but truly we write for ourselves. And we are beyond thrilled. Most organic and massive sounding thing ever. (the more organic, the harder the mix! Took a while to be satisfied) Sounds like five dudes going for it. Bass is PROMINENT. Low end is giant. It's killer as fuck."

At this month'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 is tentatively due next March 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."

Gary also confirmed that he and his EXODUS bandmates have recorded nearly two albums' worth of material this time around. "We have 80 percent of the next follow-up done," he said. "We started recording March 2nd, and I've been home four weeks till today. We stopped recording and we were on tour the next day. We went to Europe, and we were home for two weeks. Then we went on [tour] in the States. I was home two weeks, [went] to Europe, and then I went and joined SLAYER for [the summer 2025 shows]. And then I came home for two more weeks. So I'm exhausted."

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!"

EXODUS's upcoming LP will be the band's first since the departure of singer Steve "Zetro" Souza and the decision to bring Rob Dukes back.

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.

This past June, Holt told longtime Serbian hard rock/heavy metal journalist Jadranka Janković Nešić that he and his EXODUS bandmates recorded 18 songs for their next studio album. He said: "It's [going to be released as] two totally separate records, but we kept writing and kept writing and we had so much material that we just [thought], let's work extra hard and so when it's time to start thinking about a [second] new album [after the first new one], we could relax a little bit. I wish we had 20 songs done [instead of 18], 'cause then we would have the next album done, and then I could go on vacation or something. I've never had one."

Holt went on to say that none of the songs EXODUS has recorded so far for the two upcoming albums are "fillers", or tracks that were included simply to add time. "They're all great," he claimed. "They're all amazing. There are 18 songs, and they're all totally awesome. It's hard to pick which ones [will end up on the first new album]. But we did it so we could work less later."

He continued: "We're getting older. I'm 61 years old. By the time we think about releasing the next album, that's gonna be three years [from now], so I'm gonna be that much older. And then I can go on vacation in between albums. Like I said, I've never gone on vacation. I've had vacations where I played guitar to be, but I've never gone on a vacation where I didn't have to play to be there.

"After the whole [second new] album [is done] and all, yeah, I'm gonna go [on vacation] somewhere," Holt added. "I don't know how not to work though. I'm a workaholic. My wife will have to tell me to shut the phone off. At home I relax, though. But at home where I live in the country, it's a lot of work living there in the woods. So, I'm working, but it's working on my house, and I like that. I live in the country, yeah. No city life for me anymore."

Regarding the musical direction of the new EXODUS material, Gary said: "It's 100 percent EXODUS and at times 100 percent different. There's some surprises on it. It's super heavy. There's some moments that are so fast. There's moments that are super slow. Just satanic, evil as fuck."

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.

Photo credit: Lisa Holt