Hard to believe, but Paul Baloff, who many still consider the definitive Exodus front man, passed away ten years ago. So the band played a tribute show over the weekend, and Kirk Hammett showed up, hopping on stage to play “Whipping Queen,” a song he originally co-wrote and recorded for the band’s 1982 demo. And while I don’t forgive Hammett for “The Unforgive XIII” or whatever, I do think it was cool of him to come out and pay homage to Baloff, so… I won’t make fun of him until at least the next non-Exodus related Metallica post.

You can check out video of the event below. Former Exodus bassist Jeff Andrews joined the band for the tune, also, but no one cares about that guy. I mean, really, if the headline to this article had been “JEFF ANDREWS RE-JOINED EXODUS,” your reaction would probably have been, “Who?”

And here’s the original ’82 demo version of “Whipping Queen,” in case you’ve either never heard it before, or just want to stroll down memory lane for a few minutes:

-AR

[via The PRP]

I’m a Paul Baloff guy myself, but Steve “Zetro” Souza is still a legend – with all due respect to Rob Dukes, Souza is really the only guy besides Paul Baloff who could ever be thought of as the singer Exodus. I don’t know much about the circumstances surrounding his departure from the band (either time), but I guess it was amicable, ’cause he jumped on stage to do “Toxic Waltz” with the band last week in San Francisco. Check it out:

Souza’s last album with the band was 2004′s Tempo of the Damned. I’m sure this will start rumors that he’s about to come back again (again), but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

-AR

Thanks to all the old men who figured out how to use their grandson’s e-mail just so they could tell me about this.

Holy shit, I don’t even know what to write. I feel so sick right now. I wouldn’t even categorize myself as a hardcore Exodus fan, and I actually really like new(ish) vocalist Rob Dukes, but the idea that the band is re-recording their seminal album Bonded By Blood just rubs me rawer than my dick after a lubeless, hour long jerk-off session.

I was just talking about re-recordings a little while back, and I think at the time that I came to the conclusion that this was a pointless but ultimately harmless exercise.

I see now that I was wrong. This is the metal equivalent of all those terrible remakes and franchise revivals that Hollywood is pumping out these days. The best case scenario is that the only people who ever listen to this are those who have heard and appreciated the original album and are just kinda curious about why the band would ever waste their time doing such a thing.

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