During a recent interview with Dead Rhetoric, EXODUS frontman Steve “Zetro” Souza has weighed in on his band’s legacy and standing within the metal scene.
“I think I explain things very simply: In the ’80s, we were rock stars; in the ’90s, we were has-beens; and now we are considered legends,” Souza said. “You have to go through that and appreciate that whole process. As stupid kids, you don’t know you are 18, writing all these songs, all these people around telling you how great you are while they put your money in their back pockets — it’s all a learning process.
“Now we value what we’ve done and we know what it’s worth for us. We know what we are capable of musically and we know what the fans expect from us and we deliver to them. It’s a mutual appreciation from both sides. We would never give them a record that sucked or didn’t have any of our feeling for what we wanted to do. Now we know what we want — musically the direction is there.”
Regarding EXODUS‘s musical direction on Persona Non Grata album, which comes out November 19 via Nuclear Blast Records, Souza said: “I hear aspects of Tempo Of The Damned [2004] and Exhibit B [The Human Condition] [2010] in this new album. That’s just me personally — the mentality seems that way. But I can see a little Fabulous Disaster [1989], there are some songs that have a bit of ‘Cajun Hell’ atmosphere. Anger, tempo, and intricacies. Gary [Holt, guitar], talk about compositions on an album — this is why it took seven years, but wow. I like it better now. The focus is completely into EXODUS and these songs prove it.”
