San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal legends EXODUS have parted ways with their singer of the past nine years, Rob Dukes, BLABBERMOUTH.NET can exclusively reveal. An official statement from the band regarding the split is expected very soon. Dukes joined EXODUS in January 2005 as the replacement for Steve "Zetro" Souza, who was fired from the group in September 2004. Rob has appeared on four studio albums with EXODUS "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) and has released two studio albums with his GENERATION KILL project, 2011's "Red White And Blood" and 2013's "We're All Gonna Die". Back in March of this year, EXODUS entered a studio in Northern California with producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE) to record its tenth studio album. A month later, Dukes told Patch.com about the material that was slated to appear on the CD: "This album is very fast and has more of a punk rock feel to it, whereas I think the last few EXODUS albums were metal epics, with longer songs. These songs are shorter and a little faster. It has a really different feel to it. It sounds great." EXODUS last month played six shows as direct support to SLAYER (with openers SUICIDAL TENDENCIES) before joining GUNS N' ROSES, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and KID ROCK at this year's Rock On The Range festival. EXODUS' next live appearance is scheduled for July 11 at the Bang Your Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany. In a November 2013 interview with the San Antonio Metal Music Examiner, Dukes spoke about the criticism he has received from some of EXODUS' fans after he joined the band. "I try not to read into the comments on fucking Blabbermouth and all the fucking haters," he said. "There's certain people that won't let go of the past. I realize, for the past, that's what it is for them. They love the time in the past, and I get it. Not everything is better than the original, and I never claimed to be. "Paul [Baloff, original EXODUS singer] died [in 2002], unfortunately, so he's not here. So I'm carrying the torch. "Zetro fucking quit. He fucking walked in one day he didn't even walk in. He just didn't answer his phone and said, 'I'm not doing this anymore.' And he quit. And now he wants back. "You know what? I think we're heavier [now that I am in the band]. "The first album, 'Bonded By Blood', was so fucking dark, dude. Lyrically and just darkness. And then I think they went in a direction that kind of took away the darkness of it. By the time I joined, they were back into the dark. They were moving back in that direction. I stepped in and I said, 'I'll carry the torch. I'll fucking do it.' "For the people that don't fucking like it, go fuck yourself. That's all I got for you. Fuck you, you know what I mean?" After Souza made it clear in several interviews in 2011 that he wanted his old EXODUS job back, the band's guitarist and main songwriter Gary Holt who has been pulling double duty with SLAYER for the past four and a half years said: "I have nothing against Zetro; really, I don't. I consider him a friend, but the lobbying through the press for people to convince me to give him his job back just got under my skin, because Rob is NOT a placecard holder in EXODUS, he's our singer. "Zetro's place in EXODUS history is solid, he made some great records with us, and had a good run with the band. But this is now, not then, and we do not plan on throwing away what we have to go back in time."
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