EXODUS drummer Tom Hunting joined HELLHUNTER on stage last weekend (Saturday, September 18) at Thee Parkside in San Francisco, California to play the classic EXODUS song “Metal Command”. The concert was a benefit event for the 56-year-old musician, who performed live for the first time since undergoing a successful total gastrectomy in July in his battle with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the stomach. Also appearing with HELLHUNTER was DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll, who contributed lead vocals.

Last month, EXODUS tapped John Tempesta to play drums for the band at Psycho Las Vegas on August 22 in Las Vegas, Nevada and at Full Terror Assault on September 11 at Hogrock Campground in Cave In Rock, Illinois — while Hunting was recovering from surgery. Tempesta was a member of EXODUS from 1989 until 1993 and played on the band’s albums “Impact Is Imminent” (1990) and “Force Of Habit” (1992).

When Hunting announced his absence from Psycho Las Vegas and Full Terror Assault, he said in a statement: “I need to manage my own expectations, and then work my very core back into shape to be fully ready for action. I have no doubt I’ll bounce back and get there.”

A GoFundMe campaign to help Hunting with medical expenses had previously raised more than $108,000 — including $5,000 from Tom‘s former EXODUS bandmate, current METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett, and $1,500 from FOZZY singer and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho.

EXODUS will release its new album, “Persona Non Grata”, on November 19 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” is 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.