Customer Reviews

Let There Be Blood

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have mixed feelings after listening to Exodus newly recorded version of their classic album "Bonded by Blood" retitled "Let there be blood".

For those who are not familiar with "Bonded by Blood," i can truly state in a nutshell, (as a fellow Amazon reviewer put it), that it is one of the "five most important metal albums of all time, you choose the other four"

Bonded by Blood is Exodus' masterpiece, an album few metal bands will ever be able to top or emulate, and although the album was recorded over 20 years ago, long before digital technology and ProTools, it has stood the test of time, sounding as heavy and powerful as the day it was released.

Let there be blood is basically a faithful rendition of the original Bonded by Blood with slightly better production, with Rob Dukes replacing Exodus' classic vocalist Paul Baloff (who passed away in 2002). The songs are great, the guitars are heavy.. the problem is that having grown up listening to Bonded by Blood, it is hard to listen to the new album without wanting to take out a copy of the original and cranking it up to 11.
For the me the main difference is the vocals, as nobody can quite duplicate Paul's unique vocal style, with all its imperfections.

If you are an old Exodus fan, Let there be blood is a good addition to your metal collection, a chance to hear what the band sounds like right now playing the classic songs.
If you are a new Exodus fan, and you have never heard Bonded by Blood, i recommend you purchase a copy RIGHT NOW, and after you listen to it for a while, you purchase Let there be Blood..
Chances are you may actually like the newer album better.

Just like with everything else, it is a matter of taste

Brutal update on these unbeatable classics. If there was any possible way to make these Exodus songs any better this is it, the new singer does a great job too. Awesome job!

There is no doubt that BBB was one of the most influential metal albums of all time!!! It had every element you can ask for in a metal album, fast cranked out thrashers like Strike Of The Beast and the slow heavy churners with a cool build up as And Then There Were None!!!! Killer solos in every song and a punishing vocalist who gave everything he had in his performances. Let us not forget the unrelenting drums that carried every song from start to finish!!!

Come 2008 and we have this piece of metal history restored with todays technology and a killer new vocalist!!!! LTBB is everything you could ask for and more. Exodus nailed it!!!!

exodus were my fav of the big 5,slayer,megadeath anthrax,metallica.they had everything the other 4 had and more,they had the agression and harsh vocals of slayer,melodies and technique of megadeath,groove of metallica(quicker though).and fun party atmosphere but kick you in the face riffs of scott not ian and anthrax.the guitar work between holt and hunolt(though may be different on this disc)is metal shredding at it`s best,and the riffs are super catchy while crushing your ears.i reccomend this disc and the first 4 albums of each of the big 5.

Remasters of old albums has been going on for a long time, and justifiably so. For example, I own a CD of Rainbow's "Difficult To Cure" that sounds like it was mastered with speakers from a pocket size transistor radio. So it's interesting to see Exodus do a total remake of their classic debut "Bonded by Blood".
Re-named "Let There Be Blood", it's a really good addition to the Exodus catalogue. While the original deservedly will always be in the thrash hall of fame, seeing those chestnuts dusted off and remade with the current line-up breathes new life into them.
Not to belittle Gary Holt's memories of the late Paul Baloff, the original vocalist, the fact remains that current screamer Rob Dukes is a far better vocalist, even as he very kindly adds some nice notes in deference to Baloff.
The tunes are downtuned, and the tempos are sped up or slowed down here and there. Some of the soloes are new, too, which is only fair to Holt's partner Lee Altus, who replaced the original Rick Hunolt two albums ago. What makes this worthy is Duke's much sharper delivery, because let's face it - Baloff may have had the attitude, but I have always maintained that he sounded more like a hoarse dog barking than anything else and made listening to "Bonded By Blood" a bit trying at times. Sorry to slag a fellow, but that's my take.
It's a successful CD and sounds much better, and I would like to see some other thrash classics either remastered or redone, such as Metallica's "And Justice For All", Anthrax' "Among The Living" and VoiVod's "Killing Technology" and "Dimension: Hatross". How about it?

The original Bonded By Blood album is the epitome of what a thrash album should be, and Let There Be Blood is a very well done re-recording of the thrash classic. The problem: you can't beat perfection. Bonded By Blood is everything it needed to be, and nothing Exodus ever releases will top it.

That said, Let There Be Blood is still immensely entertaining despite its flaws. It opens with the same suspenseful fade-in to the title track, and when the opening riff hits you'd better get ready to thrash. Rob Dukes exhibits his usual vocal style (raspy yells) throughout the album, but also provides a welcome twist with some more melodic (for lack of a better word) vocals on certain parts of different songs, such as the chorus to "And Then There Were None." Holt and Altus really put power into the riffs, and the solos are all top notch.

Unfortunately, Exodus still tune their guitars down. Way down. For those familiar with the original album this will be instantly and blatantly obvious. It took me four or five times listening to the album all the way through to get used to the classics being played in a different tuning. It's especially noticeable on the main riff in "And Then There Were None" and the first riff in "A Lesson in Violence."

For those wondering about the tenth song on this album, it's an old B-side called "Hell's Breath" that they threw on at the end. It's definitely a highlight, and I'd be tempted to say it's the best song on the album since there isn't anything to compare it to.

Exodus did a fine job here, and though it doesn't touch the original (what can?), it comes closer than I thought it would. My personal favorites: And Then There were None, Piranha, and Hell's Breath.

i have been a fan from the start and for me bonded by blood was and still is a claasic thrash metal cd of alltime,basically and obvis this is what the songs sounds like now with the new singer rob dukes. the sound quality of course is much better then it was twenty yrs ago,but still i feel this cd shouldnt of never been touched,it would of been much better of course if paul was still alive the original singer,i brought cd because i am a fan there is one new song as a bonus track hell breath

rip paul baloff and bonded by blood

this gives justice to the old blooded by blood but another lesson in violence live gives just as much if not more.they should have done this with bayloff but other wise this is a great rerecorded testament to the fury of the original ablum with a couple of new twists for better or worse.rob duke has a fairly simular voice to bayloff better than sousa does but this will aaken a new bread of old school thrash fans,music is still weak today as in 92 but this will prove that old school was king and the new kids should look back in time for great thrash no matter the newer bands or cd released. buy or die and exodus kills posers dead!!!!

If you are a big fan of the original but miss Baloff or if you want to hear a higher quality of production than the original, then check out Another Lesson in Violence which came out in 1997. It has the original lineup, was mixed by Andy Sneap, and is freakin live!!! There is only one song missing from Bonded (Metal Command) but it has a couple other classics in there. Having just listened to the new reworking, it seems pretty redundant when compared to the live one or the original. But still solid.

Bonded by Blood is the most horrible-sounding album I've ever heard in my life and Paul Baloff was one of the worst singers I've ever heard. The songs were great, but I couldn't stand to listen to it. Sure, most classic thrash records didn't have very good production, but Bonded by Blood was a new low. It was mixed so badly that there was actually distortion on Paul's voice. Clipping in 1985?! You believe that!?

Thankfully, now I can listen to these awesome songs with the luxury of modern production. Rob Duke's voice may be too harsh for thrash sometimes, but anything's better than Baloff. I've seen people complain about the songs being slower, but it's just that they're tuned down and heavier than before. Throw nostalgia aside and LISTEN. This is a vast improvement over the original.