San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal pioneers EXODUS have signed a worldwide contract with the Austrian record label Napalm Records.

EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt comments: “EXODUS are extremely excited to announce that we are joining the family at Napalm Records!

“It’s time for a new chapter for the band, and we are stoked to be joining the label and are starting to put our foot on the gas and get ourselves prepared for the next record! They convinced us with their passion and love for the band, and where we will be going in the future, we couldn’t say no.

“It’s time to push even further and not only continue to run right over people with our brand of thrash, it’s time to increase the body count! Here’s to new beginnings with Napalm Records!”

Thomas Caser, CEO, Napalm Records, adds: “We are proud to announce this signing of one of the most influential metal bands in the world — one that has proven to always deliver the highest quality throughout the decades of their career. We cannot wait to start the work and on the road together! Welcome to the Napalm family — EXODUS!”

Last month, EXODUS canceled its previously announced summer 2023 European tour so that Holt could “tend to his family” after his brother was recently hospitalized in Italy.

Holt joined EXODUS in 1981, shortly after the band’s formation, and has been the group’s main songwriter ever since. Holt has performed on every EXODUS album, and is considered highly influential in the world of thrash metal.

Holt began filling in for SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman at live shows in 2011, and became the band’s full-time co-guitarist as of 2013, while remaining a member of EXODUS. Holt played on SLAYER‘s final album, “Repentless”, which came out in 2015.

EXODUS‘s latest album, “Persona Non Grata”, came out in November 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP was recorded at a studio in Lake Almanor, California and was engineered by Steve Lagudi and EXODUS. It was produced by EXODUS and was mixed by Andy Sneap. For the third time in the band’s history, they returned to Swedish artist Pär Olofsson to create the album artwork.

“Persona Non Grata” was the follow-up to 2014’s “Blood In Blood Out”, which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers’ first release since the departure of the group’s lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Steve “Zetro” Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

Three months ago, Hachette Books announced that it had acquired Gary‘s upcoming memoir. “A Fabulous Disaster: From The Garage To Madison Square Garden, The Hard Way” is described in a press release as “a no-holds-barred memoir from the preeminent thrasher’s life in metal, from its humble (but not quiet) beginnings in the San Francisco Bay Area through today’s current resurgence in worldwide popularity, as he lived big, played fast and crashed hard, written in collaboration with Adem Tepedelen.”