Bay Area thrash legends Exodus bring the brutality to Baltimore with support from Denver, Colorado’s Havok, Oxnard, California’s crossover band Dead Heat and hardcore outfit Candy.
This was my first time seeing Dead Heat and Candy live and my reaction to the two bands couldn’t be any different.
To me Dead Heat was a complement to the lineup with their brand of crossover thrash. The crowd was a little slow to get into them but things picked up. Their set consisted of an almost even split of songs from their 2023 EP “Endless Torment” and their 2021 effort “World At War”. I would definitely like to see these guys again.
Dead Heat SETLIST
Endless Torment
2 Cents
Smite Thee
World at War
Tears of the Wolf
Eyes of the Real
Age of DH
Dead Heat
Light me Up
Hard Reset
Pay the Toll
On the other hand, Candy to me seemed off as in having a bad night off. There were times when I could not hear Zac Quiram sing and at other times Zac appeared to be playing with with I thought was a sampler, which chewed up a fair amount of time. This didn’t seem to bother the crowd that much as they headbanged, moshed and crowd surfed to the music. I might be missing something, just not sure of what.
Candy SETLIST
Football
eXistenZ
Good to Feel
Dehumanize Me
Systematic Death
Hypercore
It has been just over a year since I last threw down with Havok, I have been following them since 2011 and they have become of my favorite thrash bands. The biggest change in the band was longtime lead guitarist Reece Scruggs stepping away from Havok and being replaced by Psychosomatic‘s Brett Rechtfertig. To the surprise of just about everyone is when Reece was brought out to sing backup vocals on “Covering Fire”, that was cool!!! Havok‘s set consisted of mostly older material that goes as far back as 2011’s “Time Is Up”. They sounded great and brought the attitude, one of the reasons why I love these guys.
Havok SETLIST
Point of No Return
Fear Campaign
Hang ‘Em High
Prepare for Attack
Death Is an Illusion
Intention to Deceive
Phantom Force
Covering Fire
Give Me Liberty…or Give Me Death
I was fortunate enough to catch both rounds of “The Bay Strikes Back” tours so it has only been a couple of years since I last saw Exodus live. Like Havok, they are consistently badass live and it looks like Zetro is having a blast every time I see him. Not to say the rest of the band wasn’t having a good time, Gary and Lee joined in on the clowning around as they played. The chaos started the moment the band played the first notes of “The Last Act of Defiance” with the moshpit and the crowd surfers giving security a run for their money. Zetro then told the crowd words to the effect of “we love moshing and crowd surfing and security isn’t doing anything …” as if the crowd needed a reason. Their set was old school Exodus and for us veteran fans, it was an amazing night of thrash metal insanity.
Exodus SETLIST
The Last Act of Defiance
Blood In, Blood Out
Fabulous Disaster
And Then There Were None
Body Harvest
Prescribing Horror
The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)
Brain Dead
Deathamphetamine
Blacklist
Metal Command
War Is My Shepherd
Toxic Waltz
Strike of the Beast
The “Battle Of 24 Tour” runs through December 7th with the last show at The Regent in Los Angeles, California. If you haven’t got your year end dose of thrash metal, get a ticket and see this banger!!!!!
