Tempo of the Damned

Tempo of the Damned
Exodus studio album
Publication (s)	February 2, 2004
Label (s)	Nuclear Blast
Format (s)	CD , LP
Genre (s)	Thrash metal
Title (number)	10 German CD pressing (Digipak): 11 Japanese and South Korean CD pressing: 12 German deluxe edition: CD1: 11, CD2: 9
running time	54 min 2 s German CD pressing (Digipak): 58 min 8 s Japanese CD pressing: 63 min 12 s South Korean CD pressing: 62 min 55 s German Deluxe Edition: CD1: 58 min 8 s, CD2: 49 min 9 s
occupation	Singing : Steve Souza Guitar : Gary Holt Guitar: Rick Hunolt Bass : Jack Gibson Drums : Tom Hunting
production	Andy Sneap
Studio (s)	Tsunami Recording, Moss Beach ( USA ); Prairie Sun Studio, Cotati (USA)
chronology Force of Habit (1992) Tempo of the Damned Shovel Headed Kill Machine (2005)
Single release 2004 Was Is My Shepherd

Tempo of the Damned is the sixth studio album by the US thrash metal band Exodus . The album was released on February 2, 2004 via Nuclear Blast and marked the band's second comeback. It is the first studio album with bassist Jack Gibson and contains the single "War Is My Shepherd".

Emergence

After the band reformed for the benefit festival "Thrash of the Titans" for the cancer-stricken Will singer Chuck Billy , the band began to write new songs and played individual concerts in the San Francisco area . On February 2, 2002, singer Paul Baloff suffered a stroke and died in an Oakland hospital . As a replacement, the band brought Baloff's successor Steve Souza back into the band and went on a European tour. After returning, Souza dropped out for a short time as the other band members' drug problems caused him problems. Only after they got these problems under control could the preparations for the album begin.

During the songwriting, Gary Holt resorted to two songs by the band Wardance, which he founded in 1992 after the first Exodus breakup, with "Sealed With a Fist" and "Throwing Down". The album was recorded in the Tsunami Recording Studio in Moss Beach and in the Prairie Sun Studio in Cotati. The album was produced, mixed and mastered by Andy Sneap in the Backstage Recording Studio in Derby . To finance the album, the band borrowed money from friends. Producer Sneap waived his advance payment to make the recordings possible. The artwork was designed by Jowita Kaminska.

Music videos were shot for the songs "War Is My Shepherd" and "Throwing Down" . The shooting for the video "War Is My Shepherd" took place on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet . This aircraft carrier housed the crew of Apollo 11 after its return from the first moon landing and is now a museum ship . The band had to pay 750 US dollars for the rotation permit and was also allowed to use the lifting platform for the planes. The video for Throwing Down, however, was recorded in a band member's garage .

Meanings of the songs

"Scar Spangled Banner" criticizes the policies of the administration under George W. Bush , in particular the Iraq war . Tom Hunting stated in an interview that the United States has more pressing domestic problems and should therefore withdraw its soldiers from Iraq . The title of the song (German: The scarred banner ) parodies the national anthem of the USA " The Star-Spangled Banner ". For the lyrics of the song, Gary Holt was insulted as anti-American on the band's homepage .

According to Tom Hunting, the song "Blacklist" is directed at people who lie and cheat other people. "Shroud of Urine" deals with Christianity . According to Gary Holt, "Culling the Herd" is a "hateful reckoning with all the stupid people in the world". However, the song has no fascist background, as Holt pokes at the entire human race.

reception

Tempo of the Damned received very good reviews in almost all media. The German rock-hard magazine named Tempo of the Damned “Album of the Month”. Editor-in-chief Götz Kühnemund wrote in his review that Exodus “are as strong as they were in the eighties without sounding old-fashioned and outdated”. Alex Straka from Powermetal.de praised the album as one of the best comebacks of all time.

Tempo of the Damned entered the German album charts at number 67 .

Track list

1. Scar Spangled Banner (6:41) ( Gary Holt )
2. War Is My Shepherd (4:27) (Holt, Steve Souza )
3. Blacklist (6:16) (Holt)
4. Shroud of Urine (4:51) (Holt)
5. Forward March (7:38) (Holt, Souza)
6. Culling the Herd (6:07) (Holt)
7. Sealed with a Fist (3:35) (Holt)
8. Throwing Down (5:01) (Holt, John Miller)
9. Impaler (5:25) ( Kirk Hammett , Holt, Tom Hunting )
10. Tempo of the Damned (4:20) (Holt)

Bonus track of the German CD release from 2004 in digipak, the German Deluxe Edition from 2005 and other CD releases

11. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (3:48) ( Angus Young , Malcolm Young , Bon Scott )

Bonus tracks from the Japanese CD releases

11. Shroud of Urine (Demo Version) (4:47) (Holt)
12. Tempo of the Damned (Demo Version) (4:23) (Holt)

Bonus tracks from the South Korean CD release

11. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (3:48) (Young, Young, Scott)
12. Shroud of Urine (Demo Version) (4:47) (Holt)

Bonus CD ( Live at The DNA 2004 - Tempo of the Damned Release Party ) of the German Deluxe Edition from 2005

1. Intro / Scar Spangled Banner (Live) (7:25) ( Gary Holt )
2. Blacklist (Live) (5:57) (Holt)
3. Shroud of Urine (Live) (4:36) (Holt)
4. Forward March (Live) (7:17) (Holt, Souza)
5. Culling the Herd (Live) (5:58) (Holt)
6. Sealed with a Fist (Live) (3:41) (Holt)
7. Throwing Down (Live) (4:59) (Holt, Miller)
8. War Is My Shepherd (Live) (4:49) (Holt, Souza)
9. Tempo of the Damned (Live) (4:27) (Holt)

Cover version

• "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" is an AC / DC cover version. The song was originally released on the 1976 album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap .

useful information

• The song "Impaler" from the early days of the band and was written by Gary Holt together with Kirk Hammett and Tom Hunting before the release of Bonded By Blood . This song finally filled the gap on Tempo of the Damned , which was created by the song "COTC (Crime of the Century)" which was deleted from the tracklist. "Impaler" appeared in a live version on the 1997 live album Another Lesson in Violence .
• The song "COTC (Crime of the Century)" had to be canceled by Exodus and Nuclear Blast because of objections from the record company Century Media , because it contained swipes about sales policy and artist payments from Century Media, the predecessor label to Exodus. The song was eventually rearranged and appeared with the title "Purge the World" as a bonus track on the 2005 studio album Shovel Headed Kill Machine .
• Originally another song called "Death Row" was planned for the album. However, only the rhythm tracks were recorded for this song, the lead guitar and vocals for this song were not recorded. It is not clear whether this song was later released in a different form and with a different title.
• A live version of the AC / DC cover version "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" appeared on the 1991 live album Good Friendly Violent Fun .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Devilish thoughts . In: Rock Hard , March 2004 edition, pp. 54–57
2. ↑ ^{a b} interview. metal.de
3. ^ Review of "Tempo of the Damned". rockhard.de
4. ^ Review - Exodus: Tempo of the Damned. powermetal.de
5. ↑ Tempo of the Damned on officialcharts.de
6. ↑ ^{a b c} metal- rules.com - Heart Of Steel: Interviews - Guitarist of Exodus - Gary Holt . Last accessed on August 15, 2017.
7. ↑ metalasylum.net - Interviews - Gary Holt - Guitar for Exodus . Retrieved August 15, 2017.
8. ↑ bloodchamber.de - Tracklist of the new Exodus album "Tempo of the Damned"! ( Memento of the original from August 16, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved August 15, 2017.