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Three years after the first installment, thrash veterans Exodus return with Exhibit B: The Human Condition. It's sonically similar to The Atrocity Exhibition: Exhibit A, with Andy Sneap once again producing. The songwriting, however, has stepped up a bit and there's more diversity.

Things get off to a strong start with “The Ballad Of Leonard And Charles,” a 7 minute track that showcases a wide arsenal of galloping riffs and shredding guitar solos from Gary Holt and Lee Altus.

“Beyond The Pale” does the same, but with more of a groove. The songs on Exhibit B: The Human Condition are long, but for the most part you don't even notice because the songwriting is strong enough to maintain interest throughout.

Along with the epic songs, there are a couple of shorter tracks such as “Hammer And Life,” which when you account for the intro and lengthy solos, doesn't have a huge amount of vocals, but packs in the catchiest choruses. Songs like “Nanking” offer a change of pace tempowise, without sacrificing any passion or intensity.

Because Exodus has had several vocalists over the years (such as Paul Baloff and Steve “Zetro” Souza), Rob Dukes will always face comparisons to his predecessors. However, Exhibit B: The Human Condition is his best performance to date, full of aggression and intensity while varying his delivery.

With thrash albums, long songs are fine, but Exhibit B: The Human Condition is a couple songs too long. At 12 tracks and 70 minutes, fatigue starts setting in with the 9 plus minute “The Sun Is My Destroyer,” and there are two more songs after that.

While this is still a first-class thrash album, a little editing would have made it even stronger. Sometimes less is more.

(released May 18, 2010 on Nuclear Blast Records)



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