War Is My Shepherd

Exodus had a lot of pressure upon them while making this EP. Their first studio recording in almost 12 years with the weight of expectations of a million fans upon their soldiers, the one thing the band did not want was too to bow down to this great pressure… and they didn’t. Now the review. This EP contains 4 tracks and since there are such a small amount of tracks I would like to give a small track-by-track review.

I have been a fan of this band for quite a long time and the one thing that never clicked with me were the mediocre or average vocals but Steve burst forth with such power that he was about to change this setback as well.

The first track on here is “War Is My Shepherd” and is my favorite track not only here but also the album (Tempo Of The Damned) on which it later appeared. Steve at his renewed best and the guitars being shredded their life out off. This track is one of Exodus’ finest creations and even though Holt and Unholt do a great job Steve is the hero here with his brutal vocals performance. The chorus which is “War….War…War.. War is my shepherd” is Steve at his aggressive best.

The next track is “Sealed With A Fist” and is another great track on the album and is classic Exodus which has an intro which sounds remotely of Metallica’s track “No Remorse” of their debut album ) Kill ‘Em All). Good riffs and solo and overall quite a good track.

The next track is “Impaler” and is one of Exodus’ oldest songs and the track even mentions Kirk Hammet as its creators. This can be seen as soon as one hears the intro that sounds just like the intro of “Seek And Destroy” at a faster tempo. The tempo of the track increases throughout the track and ends with a barrage of dual guitar solos.

The last track is a fun cover of AC/DC’s track Dirty Deeds Done Dirt cheap. The band never sounds like the creators of this track (who had this definitive sound which set them apart from the others) throughout the track except perhaps the chorus.

Lastly, the production. It is as crisp and good as it gets.

This EP is nothing short of a modern thrash marvel. If you love not only Exodus but modern thrash as a whole then get EP as soon as fuckin’ possible. It’s a shame that this EP was limited to only 500 copies. Tons of people would have loved to get their hands on this.

This limited edition EP is simply a teaser for all Exodus fanatics worldwide that anxiously awaited the full length release of Tempo Of The Damned.
Since their are only four songs on this EP, this review will be short and straight to the point.
First off, War is my Shepherd, I don't know where Zetro found this newly revamped and rejuvenated vocal approach, but I fuckin' love it! Zet has never sounded so menacing in all of his years in Exodus. His vocal approach and delivery on the chorus would make a rhino turn and run. Angst driven testosterone is the overall vibe of the vocal delivery. Musically this band has never done ANYTHING that is simplistic and the H-Team once again shreds the shit out of their guitars, leaving the listener to imagine the smoke that must have been rising from the fretboards at the end of the solos. Hunting's drumming is exceptional as always and with Andy Sneap now handling the production duties this band is about as tight sounding as their going to get.
Next we have Sealed With A Fist. This was actually originally titled "Angary", but for whatever reason the song was released as such. A typical sounding Exodus song that crunches along with those EMG pickups. Not too far derived from something that may have been featured on the Fabulous Disaster album.
Track #3 is Impaler, now I'm a little bit biased about this song simply because Kirk Hammet had something to do with it, and him having anything to do with this band, simply doesn't seem right. This is a group of guys that are truly all about the music, and their talent as musicians superceeds far beyond anything that Metallica could ever achieve in terms of musicianship.
Just the same though, its a decent track but not one of Exodus' best by any means.
Lastly, we have Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, since one of Exodus favorite bands is ACDC, it would only seem logical that they eventually did an official cover version of one of their songs. The sound is amazing on this tune and they definately do the song justice. On a historical note, Exodus actually already recorded this song live back in 91 for the Good Friendly Violent Fun album.
Overall a Great EP that is worth aquiring as a collectors item.