Exodus “Bonded by Blood” 40th Anniversary Show: Exodus, Death Angel, Blind Illusion, & Nukem
- Hectic
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
April 25, 2025
UC Theatre
Berkeley, CA
Exodus played a sold out hometown show, celebrating both the 40th anniversary of their debut album Bonded by Blood, and the birthday of the singer who appeared on it, Paul Baloff (RIP). Whoa. This was peak metal mayhem, a packed concert hall on a Friday night in Berkeley, CA. The UC Theatre is a big place, but it was crowded and buzzing with metal fans early in the night, everyone ready to see some titans of Bay Area thrash.
I caught the tail end of Nukem’s set, just the last song and a half to be fair. I’d like to see a full set next time, they sounded good.
Blind Illusion followed and sounded killer. Founding member Mark Biedermann (guitar) was rejoined by his original vocalist David White (more recently of Heathen) for the show, plus some younger talented musicians (including a bass player who might have been just out of high school?).
Their new lineup really clicked and sounded great live, and it certainly did not hurt that they looked like they were having a ton of fun. Blind Illusion played a number of songs from their early days that apparently had not been performed live in 40 years, very appropriate for the Bonded by Blood celebration.
Then Death Angel hit the stage and absolutely tore it up. High-speed, locked-in, with a set full of fan favorites. Death Angel is playing fewer, larger shows these days, so even in the San Francisco Bay Area you might catch them twice a year at most. But they are making those shows really count, delivering the same level of performance that you’d witness seeing a hometown show at the end of a 6 week tour.
Last time I saw them was at the holiday shows in December, and they’re still as fierce as ever. I was right down on the floor, where it got packed quick. But there’s no better spot for a Death Angel set than close to the energy of the stage (a safe distance from the pit, of course).
Just days after the show their 10th Annual Another DEATH ANGEL X-Mas Show 2025 was announced, so grab tickets to that immediately if you want to see Death Angel this year.
And what can you even say about Exodus? They owned the night. Their intro was a little odd, a few minutes of Paul Baloff’s voice from beyond the grave, a recording of between song banter from some live show back in the day when someone in the band was fixing their gear and he was stalling for time. Not your typical lead-in music to a live performance.
But once they got going, Exodus closed out the show with a full-blown rager of an anniversary set, playing Bonded by Blood in its entirety, plus other Exodus standards and even an early demo track. It was nonstop thrash fury for sure, with a brief break for the whole crowd to sing happy birthday to Baloff, whose birthday is actually April 25th.
Former guitarist Rick Hunolt made a happy and heartfelt guest appearance on 3 songs plus the final encore (more on Rick’s appearance here), and looked like he was having the time of his life. For more Rick Hunolt, check out his new band Nefarious.
Original bass player Jeff Andrews, who was in Exodus way back 1981 to 1983, even came on for the last 2 songs of the 3 song encore. How often do you see two bass players on stage at the same time? (Were both plugged in? Who knows).
It felt like it was both a true anniversary bash and a reunion at the same time. The crowd energy was high, the place was packed, and it seemed like plenty of people showed up who aren’t regulars at metal shows anymore (Unlike this old guy, who was right back at the same venue two nights later for Obituary, still tired from Exodus.)
What a great night of the best of the SF Bay Area’s thrash metal bands indeed.
–Hectic
