Forty years after Bonded By Blood rewired what aggression in metal could sound like, Exodus are still sharpening the blade.
Goliath, their thirteenth studio album, drops this Friday, March 20 via Napalm Records. It's their first record since 2021's Persona Non Grata, their first in over a decade with vocalist Rob Dukes, and by all indications, one of the most focused and collaborative albums of their career.
Rob Dukes Is Back
The story behind Goliath starts with a lineup move that most saw coming but still landed like a gut punch when it was confirmed. In January 2025, Exodus parted ways with Steve "Zetro" Souza — the voice behind Fabulous Disaster and Impact Is Imminent — and welcomed back Rob Dukes, who fronted the band from 2005 to 2014.
Dukes hasn't wasted the homecoming. "It's the best thing I've ever done with this band," he said of the album. That's not hype — it's conviction from someone who spent a decade away knowing exactly what he left behind.
Gary Holt kept his promise, too. After 2021, he told an interviewer there would not be another seven-year gap between records. Goliath arrives in five.
What's On It
Ten tracks. 54 minutes. The full lineup — Holt and Lee Altus on guitars, Jack Gibson on bass, Tom Hunting on drums — wrote more collectively than on any previous Exodus record. Altus contributed lead writing credits on four songs. Hunting co-wrote the closing track "The Dirtiest of the Dozen." This isn't Holt's band anymore. It's everyone's.
Track listing:
- 3111
- Hostis Humani Generis
- The Changing Me (feat. Peter Tägtgren)
- Promise You This
- Goliath (feat. Katie Jacoby)
- Beyond the Event Horizon
- 2 Minutes Hate
- Violence Works
- Summon of the God Unknown
- The Dirtiest of the Dozen
Two guests worth noting: Peter Tägtgren — the Hypocrisy and Pain mastermind — appears on "The Changing Me," adding a northern European menace to the Bay Area formula. Violinist Katie Jacoby brings something genuinely unexpected to the title track, which Ghost Cult described as deliberately slowing tempo and building tension with "winding, malevolent leads" cutting through the heaviness. It's the kind of swing that only confident bands take.
Production Break
For the first time in over 30 years, Exodus recorded without producer Andy Sneap. Instead, they handled production themselves and brought in Mark Lewis — whose credits include Whitechapel, Nile, and Undeath — for mixing and mastering. That's a significant departure. Sneap has been the invisible spine of Exodus records since 1992. Lewis brings a different density. Reportedly, the result is the most sonically explosive thing the band has cut in years.
Tour Context
Goliath isn't arriving in a vacuum — Exodus have been on the road nonstop building momentum. They supported Megadeth and Anthrax on a Canadian arena run in February and March. Right now they're mid-way through a European run alongside Kreator, Carcass, and Nails. Come April and May, they'll be back in North America supporting Sepultura on their final North American tour.
That's three consecutive major runs before summer. Bay Area thrash is back in rotation at scale, and Exodus is central to every conversation.
Why It Matters
The timing could not be sharper. Every major thrash band is moving right now — Megadeth is on their farewell lap, Slayer remains quiet, Anthrax remains active. Exodus isn't positioned as nostalgia. Goliath is competitive. A new record by a band that sounds like it still has something to prove.
The band put it directly: "Are we excited for this record? That's an understatement. We put everything we had into this record — and it's a wildly collaborative, the most band-centric album to date."
Forty years in. Thirteenth record. New label. New vocalist.
Bow down.
Grab Goliath via your preferred format at Napalm Records. Pre-orders and bundles also available on Amazon. Catch Exodus live — remaining dates and tickets available on Ticketmaster.
