Hey all! What I’m trying to do here is an extension of my Jams and Bombs column, where I examine the ups and downs of a particular metal acts’ career.

This time, I’m going to focus on one particular album from a band’s discography; one which I feel is underexposed, and could use a little more light shining.

My first LP took to task will be from the band of Metal Army’s own Rob Dukes, the thrash machine known as Exodus!

During the early nineties, metal was on its last legs within the commercial mainstream. With grunge surely and firmly entrenching itself within the public consciousness, most major label metal was on shaky ground, to say the least. Often during this time, we’ll see peculiar albums being released from former hard ‘n heavy powerhouses; records which may blur the lines a bit for old school fans.

For Exodus, that LP was 1992′s Force of Habit. Released after the commercially and critically disappointing Impact is Imminent, this album was a transitional one for the Bay Area madmen; an attempt to portray a darker, more serious tone. Though the effort ultimately tanked and was forgotten, there remains a silver lining of solid composition here on Force of Habit; one which might have gone under the radar for most of the band’s fans back in the day.

Upon further examination, Force of Habit DOES feature a number of oddities within its track listing, not the least of which are the covers of Elvis Costello and The Rolling Stones. While these covers may have just been the result of record label pressure, expanding musical tastes or the desire to crossover into a new market, the end results are predictably forgettable.

What ISN’T forgettable about Force of Habit is the progressive, involved guitar work of axeman/mainman Gary Holt. The album’s progression is thick, heavy and powerful, lending a lot of credence to Holt’s riff work. Gary’s ideas also tend to fall outside the box on this record, perhaps foreshadowing the approach Holt would take on future, complex efforts with Rob Dukes at the helm.

A superb example of this is the eleven-minute-plus epic “Architect of Pain,” a sweeping jam which takes many sonic turns throughout its journey, similar to the lengthier tracks on the band’s recent Atrocity Exhibition efforts.

Elsewhere, the album’s single and video for “Thorn In My Side” displayed that Exodus could still write some mighty tasty pit riffs, thank you very much, while other such standouts as “When It Rains It Pours,” “Me Myself & I,” and “Fuel For the Fire” all lend Force of Habit a legitimacy which reaches far beyond its lost relic status. Hell, even “Feeding Time at the Zoo” evokes memories of such goofy-but-fun Exodus tracks as “The Lunatic Parade” or “The Toxic Waltz.”

Of course, all of these kind words won’t change the fact that Force of Habit did NOT achieve what the band hoped it would upon release. It wasn’t until 2004′s Tempo of the Damned-which featured returning frontman Steve Souza, after a brief reunion with the sadly departed Paul Baloff in ’97-where Exodus truly began to regroup and regain their focus, eventually working their way back to the top of the underground via a series of well-received, undeniably brutal LPs. With Dukes firmly in tow at this point, however, it looks as if Gary Holt and Co. are ready to write their fabulous disaster for years to come.

Written by MetalGeorge