Exodus
Exhibit B-The Human Condition

The monumentality, filigree precision, extreme darkness and fury of music and lyrics that permeate the latest work of the classics of Californian thrash, combined with simply insane performance technique and the impeccable work of the producer/sound engineer in the person of Andy Sneap, do not allow us to give this album any other rating than the highest. My next statement may be debatable, but I truly believe that thrash metal at its best, most authentic form these days is the Big Four, not quite the big four: Slayer, Exodus, Overkill and Testament. Modern thrash, it seems to me, really lacked just such a release (in technical and compositional terms, clearly superior even to the last brilliant albums of Slayer and Overkill), in which the distinct “old school” material, which completely fits into the known stylistic framework, looks not anachronistic, but absolute dignity due to the impeccability of presentation and colossal emotional impact. Listening to “Exhibit B: …”, I constantly exclaimed in my mind: “Here it is, the almost perfect thrash album that I was so waiting for these days and no longer hoped to hear; here it is, Unclouded Perfection! It is, by and large, pointless to single out any specific song: almost all of them are extremely convincing in approximately equal proportions, but perhaps the most impressive were “Beyond the Pale”, “Hammer and Life”, “Downfall”, “Nanking” (in some places painfully reminiscent of Slayer's "Spill the Blood"), "Democide" and "Good Riddance". I wish there were more such albums - resurrecting the former greatness of the style, they not only make it extremely relevant today, but also promote it to new heights.

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