San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS will release their tenth studio album, "Blood In Blood Out", in North America on October 14 via Nuclear Blast. The album art was illustrated by Swedish artist Pär Olofsson, known worldwide for his incredible renderings that have graced the covers of countless heavy metal albums, including EXODUS' "Let There Be Blood". "When I was working on the record, I was sitting around watching TV series like 'Gangland' and all these locked-up prison reality shows," says EXODUS guitarist and main songwriter Gary Holt. "And I thought, 'Yeah, that's like EXODUS.' It's a brotherhood. You bleed to get in, you bleed to get out. "I've been doing this kind of music since I was a teenager, and I'll be doing it 'till I can't physically do it anymore." The concept for the art was impressively envisaged by Olofsson based on the album title alone, as Gary Holt explains: "The concept came from Pär Olofsson. I fed him the title and he immediately came up with the final concept, and it's perfect! One of my favorite covers we've ever done and it fits the title and theme to a T!" "Blood In Blood Out" is EXODUS' first album since the departure of the band's lead singer of the past nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of his predecessor, Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004. "Blood In Blood Out" track listing: 01. Black 13 02. Blood In, Blood Out 03. Collateral Damage 04. Salt In The Wound 05. Body Harvest 06. BTK 07. Wrapped In The Arms Of Rage 08. My Last Nerve 09. Numb 10. Honor Killings 11. Food For The Worms "Blood In Blood Out" features a guest appearance by METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett on the song "Salt In The Wound". "It felt really casual, really cool just like it did back in 1980 when we were all just hanging out back in the day," Hammett told RollingStone.com. "Me, recording a solo on their album was a huge thing for me. Other than the EXODUS demo that's been heard by a lot of people, it's the only time I ever recorded with EXODUS. It was a huge thing for me." He added: "I play a pretty cool solo, and then Gary comes in and plays another solo, and you know what? I listened to that and thought, 'Wow, it's 1982 all over again and here we are, Gary and I are trying to cut each other's heads off with our guitar solos.' Nothing has changed much in the last 30 years. I love it. I love those guys. I've only known them for most of my life, so I'm really happy that I finally got to record with them." Asked what EXODUS is doing differently on "Blood In Blood Out" compared to the band's previous efforts, Souza said: "I just think it's way more brutal now. I think if you look at the production value in the albums, from 'Bonded By Blood' [1985] and even 'Impact Is Imminent' [1990] and now you look at them, from 'Tempo Of The Damned' [2004] and then 'Shovel Headed Kill Machine' [2005] and 'The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A' [2007] and 'Exhibit B: The Human Condition' [2010] and now to 'Blood In, Blood Out', I just think the maturity level and knowing what you wanna sound like and knowing what you're going for and knowing what you do well. Not trying to second-guess yourself and go, 'Oh, we've gotta do this because of this.' It's not like that anymore. Now it's all about, 'Hey, we're EXODUS. We've been EXODUS for 30 years. And let's just be EXODUS.'" The album can be pre-ordered from the Nuclear Blast USA webshop in CD, digipak, and 2-LP exclusive yellow vinyl formats. Bundles include a t-shirt with exclusive artwork for North America + a poster (while supplies last). EXODUS will head out to South America in October before returning for a supporting run in November with fellow metal titans SLAYER and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. The Scion-sponsored leg of this U.S. tour launches on November 11 with two shows at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California. The 26-show trek includes nine headlining off-dates with additional performances to be announced soon. Tickets are on sale now via the links on the official EXODUS Facebook page. Due to the overwhelmingly demand, EXODUS is making their VIP Experience packages available for the entire tour via SLOtix.com. Fans are encouraged to get them as soon as possible, as VIP package sales will close seven days prior to each show day. For fans who have already purchased their show ticket and would like to be part of the EXODUS VIP Experience, contact SLO Customer Service at 888-756-4849 or customerservice@slotix.com. Hammett was a member of EXODUS' original lineup before replacing Dave Mustaine in METALLICA in 1983. In fact, Hammett was not only the person who came up with the EXODUS name, but also the first from the band to meet original EXODUS singer Paul Baloff and brought him into the group. Dukes joined EXODUS in January 2005 and appeared on four of the band's studio albums "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" (2005), "The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A" (2007), "Let There Be Blood" (2008, a re-recording of EXODUS' classic 1985 LP, "Bonded By Blood") and "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (2010).
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