STEVE 'ZETRO' SOUZA Says 'Blood In, Blood Out' Is 'Way More Brutal' Than EXODUS' Previous Albums

Trev McKendry of Metal Nation Radio conducted an interview with vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza of San Francisco Bay Area thrashers EXODUS on August 10 at the Heavy Montreal festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You can now listen to the chat using the PodOmatic widget below.

EXODUS' performance at the Heavy Montreal festival marked the band's fourth show with Steve "Zetro" Souza since he rejoined the band two months ago; EXODUS played on July 11 at the Bang Your Head!!!festival in Balingen, Germany; on July 12 at Antwerp Metal Fest in Antwerp, Belgium; and on July 25 at the "Fear FestEvil After Party" in San Diego, California.

EXODUS will release their new album, "Blood In, Blood Out", on October 14 via Nuclear Blast. The album art was illustrated by Swedish artist Pär Olofsson, known worldwide for his incredible renderings that have graced the covers of countless heavy metal albums, including EXODUS' "Let There Be Blood".

Asked what EXODUS is doing differently on "Blood In, Blood Out" compared to the band's previous efforts, Souza said: "I just think it's way more brutal now. I think if you look at the production value in the albums, from 'Bonded By Blood' [1985] and even 'Impact Is Imminent' [1990] and now you look at them, from 'Tempo Of The Damned' [2004] and then 'Shovel Headed Kill Machine' [2005] and 'The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A' [2007] and 'Exhibit B: The Human Condition' [2010] and now to 'Blood In, Blood Out', I just think the maturity level and knowing what you wanna sound like and knowing what you're going for and knowing what you do well. Not trying to second-guess yourself and go, 'Oh, we've gotta do this because of this.' It's not like that anymore. Now it's all about, 'Hey, we're EXODUS. We've been EXODUS for 30 years. And let's just be EXODUS.'"

"Blood In, Blood Out" will feature a guest appearance by METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett on the song "Salt In The Wound". "It felt really casual, really cool — just like it did back in 1980 when we were all just hanging out back in the day," Hammett told RollingStone.com. "Me, recording a solo on their album was a huge thing for me. Other than the EXODUS demo that's been heard by a lot of people, it's the only time I ever recorded with EXODUS. It was a huge thing for me."

He added: "I play a pretty cool solo, and then Gary comes in and plays another solo, and you know what? I listened to that and thought, 'Wow, it's 1982 all over again and here we are, Gary and I are trying to cut each other's heads off with our guitar solos.' Nothing has changed much in the last 30 years. I love it. I love those guys. I've only known them for most of my life, so I'm really happy that I finally got to record with them."

Hammett was a member of EXODUS' original lineup before replacing Dave Mustaine in METALLICA in 1983. In fact, Hammett was not only the person who came up with the EXODUS name, but also the first from the band to meet original EXODUS singer Paul Baloff and brought him into the group.

Dukes 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' classic 1985 LP, "Bonded By Blood") and "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (2010).