Just ahead of launching a Canadian tour with Megadeth and Anthrax, veteran Bay Area thrashers Exodus have finally announced the details behind their long-in-the-works next LP — and it’s primed to be massive. The record is called Goliath, and its first fiery single is called “3111.”
The band’s 12th full-length is out March 20th through their new label home, Napalm Records, and it’ll be their first album since 2021’s Persona Non Grata. Notably, Goliath also marks on-record return of vocalist Rob Dukes, who’d initially screamed from the group between 2005 and 2014, and re-entered their ranks early last year following the departure of Steve “Zetro” Souza.
The intro to Exodus’ first Goliath single begins with a towering swell of gloom, but the Bay Area band soon rip into a thrash-nasty arrangement full of speedy snare hits, heavy artillery riffage and mean-as-nails snarling from Dukes.
“We decided to go hard with the leadoff single, ‘3111,’” the band expressed in a joint statement, adding of its brutal origins, “The song is about the narco killings in Juarez, and ‘3111’ is the estimated number of murders for 2010 alone.”
Per the band, a music video for “3111” was apparently too extreme for YouTube, but it will be released in some form at a later time. For now, you can sample the audio via the player above, while guitarist Gary Holt discusses the censorship issue and more via the video post below.
As for the rest of Goliath, it’s added in a press release that it’s Exodus’ “most collaborative record in their four decade-plus history,” and that it features songs crafted by several bandmembers. It’s likewise got guest spots from Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain) and violinist Katie Jacoby. Holt had told radio station 107.7 the Bone last fall that the record is “crushing, but it’s also all anthems.”
As previously reported, Exodus are set to open Megadeth’s final tour across Canada, which begins February 15th at Victoria, BC’s Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. Earlier this week it was revealed that Exodus will also be out with Sepultura this spring for the latter’s final North American tour.