Exodus
Explore the band's historical lineups, musicians, and studio albums.
Active12 formations12 studio albums
Formation chronology
Newest first
Formation 12 of 12
Jan 15, 2025 – Present
Members
- Rob DukesLead VocalsFrom Jan 2025
- Gary HoltGuitarsFrom Jan 2025
- Lee AltusGuitarsFrom Jan 2025
- Jack GibsonBassFrom Jan 2025
- Tom HuntingDrumsFrom Jan 2025
Formation facts
- When Exodus and Steve Souza parted in 2025, the band called Rob Dukes. Gary Holt, at sixty, has said he did not want to start over with a stranger. Dukes' return energized the camp, and Goliath became the first studio album of that renewed lineup.
Studio albums
- Goliath (Mar 2026)
Formation 11 of 12
Jun 8, 2014 – Jan 14, 2025
Members
- Steve "Zetro" SouzaLead VocalsJun 2014 – Jan 2025
- Gary HoltGuitarsJun 2014 – Jan 2025
- Lee AltusGuitarsJun 2014 – Jan 2025
- Jack GibsonBassJun 2014 – Jan 2025
- Tom HuntingDrumsJun 2014 – Jan 2025
Formation facts
- Kirk Hammett helped found Exodus, then spent decades in Metallica without appearing on an Exodus studio album. In 2014 he finally put guitar on "Salt the Wound," his first official studio appearance on an Exodus album more than three decades after leaving.
Studio albums
- Persona Non Grata (Nov 2021)
- Blood In, Blood Out (Oct 2014)
Formation 10 of 12
Mar 13, 2007 – Jun 7, 2014
Members
- Rob DukesLead VocalsMar 2007 – Jun 2014
- Gary HoltGuitarsMar 2007 – Jun 2014
- Lee AltusGuitarsMar 2007 – Jun 2014
- Jack GibsonBassMar 2007 – Jun 2014
- Tom HuntingDrumsMar 2007 – Jun 2014
Formation facts
- When Jeff Hanneman could no longer tour, Gary Holt joined Slayer on the road without quitting Exodus. Friends — including Rick Hunolt and Kragen Lum when the dates required it — covered guitar live so Exodus could keep working. Holt's two bands were a dual life, not a resignation.
- In June 2014 Exodus changed singers while another album was already moving. Rob Dukes was out; Steve Souza was back the same week, and vocals for Blood In, Blood Out started almost immediately.
Studio albums
- Exhibit B: The Human Condition (May 2010)
- The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A (Oct 2007)
Formation 9 of 12
Aug 9, 2005 – Mar 12, 2007
Members
- Rob DukesLead VocalsAug 2005 – Mar 2007
- Gary HoltGuitarsAug 2005 – Mar 2007
- Lee AltusGuitarsAug 2005 – Mar 2007
- Jack GibsonBassAug 2005 – Mar 2007
- Paul BostaphDrumsAug 2005 – Mar 2007
Formation facts
- Rob Dukes was Gary Holt's guitar tech when Exodus needed a singer. Holt and Dukes have both told the story: the guy who knew the rigs stepped up to the mic and became the voice of the 2005 rebuild.
- When Tom Hunting was ready to come back, Paul Bostaph treated the drum throne as Tom's. Bostaph has said it was always Hunting's place if he wanted it — a clean, generous close to Bostaph's one-album Exodus chapter.
Studio albums
- Shovel Headed Kill Machine (Oct 2005)
Formation 8 of 12
Feb 4, 2002 – Sep 13, 2004
Members
- Steve "Zetro" SouzaLead VocalsFeb 2002 – Sep 2004
- Gary HoltGuitarsFeb 2002 – Sep 2004
- Rick HunoltGuitarsFeb 2002 – Sep 2004
- Jack GibsonBassFeb 2002 – Sep 2004
- Tom HuntingDrumsFeb 2002 – Sep 2004
Formation facts
- Steve Souza initially stepped in after Baloff's death as a favor, but the return lasted through 2002, including European dates that December. In January 2003 the band split with him over touring availability, only to reach a new agreement in February so the next studio album could happen.
Studio albums
- Tempo of the Damned (Mar 2004)
Formation 7 of 12
Aug 11, 2001 – Feb 2, 2002
Members
- Paul BaloffLead VocalsAug 2001 – Feb 2002
- Gary HoltGuitarsAug 2001 – Feb 2002
- Rick HunoltGuitarsAug 2001 – Feb 2002
- Jack GibsonBassAug 2001 – Feb 2002
- Tom HuntingDrumsAug 2001 – Feb 2002
Formation facts
- After Thrash of the Titans on August 11, 2001, Exodus said they were writing toward a new studio record with Paul Baloff. That album was never finished.
- Paul Baloff suffered a stroke on January 31, 2002 and died on February 2. Steve Souza agreed to sing the already-booked shows so the band could honor those dates. Holt later said that first return began as a favor.
Formation 6 of 12
1996 – 1998
Members
- Paul BaloffLead VocalsJan 1996 – Jan 1998
- Gary HoltGuitarsJan 1996 – Jan 1998
- Rick HunoltGuitarsJan 1996 – Jan 1998
- Jack GibsonBassJan 1996 – Jan 1998
- Tom HuntingDrumsJan 1996 – Jan 1998
Formation facts
- When Gary Holt wanted Paul Baloff back, he found him on a Monterey beach making sandcastles. The reunion started as two old friends talking, then became a band again.
- The March 8, 1997 show at the Trocadero — later issued as Another Lesson in Violence — caught Baloff's Exodus at full violence again, right down to Robb Flynn jumping on for a song. It is a live document of a lineup that never made another studio album together.
Formation 5 of 12
1991 – 1993
Members
- Steve "Zetro" SouzaLead VocalsJan 1991 – Jan 1993
- Gary HoltGuitarsJan 1991 – Jan 1993
- Rick HunoltGuitarsJan 1991 – Jan 1993
- Michael ButlerBassJan 1991 – Jan 1993
- John TempestaDrumsJan 1991 – Jan 1993
Formation facts
- Gary Holt has described the early-nineties collapse as fractured friendships, managers speaking for people who would not speak to each other, and a new father's sense that the band had stopped being fun. In Japan he told the press Exodus was effectively finished — not a tidy breakup announcement, just the moment he said it out loud.
Studio albums
- Force of Habit (Aug 1992)
Formation 4 of 12
1989 – 1991
Members
- Steve "Zetro" SouzaLead VocalsJan 1989 – Jan 1991
- Gary HoltGuitarsJan 1989 – Jan 1991
- Rick HunoltGuitarsJan 1989 – Jan 1991
- Rob McKillopBassJan 1989 – Jan 1991
- John TempestaDrumsJan 1989 – Jan 1991
Studio albums
- Impact Is Imminent (Jul 1990)
Formation 3 of 12
Jul 1986 – Apr 1989
Members
- Steve "Zetro" SouzaLead VocalsJul 1986 – Apr 1989
- Gary HoltGuitarsJul 1986 – Apr 1989
- Rick HunoltGuitarsJul 1986 – Apr 1989
- Rob McKillopBassJul 1986 – Apr 1989
- Tom HuntingDrumsJul 1986 – Apr 1989
Formation facts
- Steve Souza arrived from Legacy into a room that still wanted Paul Baloff. At his first Bay Area shows, objects flew. Baloff even joined him on Bonded by Blood that same weekend — a messy, public handoff that was very Exodus.
- Tom Hunting's 1989 health scare — a heart problem — pulled him off the Headbangers Ball tour and, soon after, out of the band. The drums went on without him; the reason was his body, not a studio reshuffle.
Studio albums
- Fabulous Disaster (Jan 1989)
- Pleasures of the Flesh (Oct 1987)
Formation 2 of 12
1983 – Jun 1986
Members
- Paul BaloffLead VocalsJan 1983 – Jun 1986
- Gary HoltGuitarsJan 1983 – Jun 1986
- Rick HunoltGuitarsJan 1983 – Jun 1986
- Rob McKillopBassJan 1983 – Jun 1986
- Tom HuntingDrumsJan 1983 – Jun 1986
Formation facts
- Bonded by Blood was recorded in July 1984, then sat finished while the band waited through label trouble, a delayed 1985 release, and a fight over the cover. Tape-trading kept the record alive among fans long before it reached stores.
- Gary Holt has recalled having to kick Paul Baloff in time onstage. It was not a put-down so much as the chaos of a singer who lived the songs harder than the click — Baloff's fire was the point; keeping him on the one was Holt's job.
- Rick Hunolt later wondered whether firing Paul Baloff was the band's biggest mistake. Baloff's life was chaotic, new material was stalling, and they let him go. Hunolt has said they may have broken something they could not replace — even as Steve Souza went on to write a different, lasting Exodus chapter.
Studio albums
- Bonded by Blood (Apr 1985)
Formation 1 of 12
1982 – Apr 10, 1983
Members
- Paul BaloffLead VocalsJan 1982 – Apr 1983
- Kirk HammettGuitarsJan 1982 – Apr 1983
- Gary HoltGuitarsJan 1982 – Apr 1983
- Jeff AndrewsBassJan 1982 – Apr 1983
- Tom HuntingDrumsJan 1982 – Apr 1983
Formation facts
- Exodus started in 1979 as a Richmond high-school cover band. Gary Holt has recalled still being in school while Kirk Hammett, Tom Hunting, and friends were already playing together. By the 1982 demo the lineup had evolved into Paul Baloff, Hammett, Holt, Jeff Andrews, and Hunting.
- Gary Holt first saw Kirk Hammett tearing through covers and wanted that life. When Tim Agnello left, Kirk helped pull Holt into Exodus as a second guitarist, showing him parts and forcing him to keep up. Holt has said Kirk taught him how to be a metal guitar player.
- Kirk Hammett has told the story of Metallica ringing while he was on the toilet, convinced it had to be an April Fool's joke. It wasn't. In April 1983 he left Exodus for Metallica.
- Holt has said Kirk's departure hurt at first, then became the moment Exodus became his to drive. With Kirk gone, Holt pushed the band faster and heavier.
- Kirk wrote a riff while he was still in Exodus, and the band used it in Die by His Hand. After he joined Metallica that figure became the famous midsection of Creeping Death. Holt later jokes about still waiting on a cheque for his old lyric contribution — a gag, not a claim that Exodus owns a Metallica song.