Celebrating 35 Years of Exodus’ Fabulous Disaster….

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Exodus‘ Fabulous Disaster was released on January 30th 1989 on the UK label Music for Nations, while the US version was released on Combat / Relativity Records.

Review:

Opening with the caustic “The Last Act Of Defiance” – a scathing attack on the prison system – Exodus were clearly in a bullish mood during Fabulous Disaster‘s creation and their third album would go down in thrash history as a bona fide classic of the genre.

The H-bomb of Holt and Hunolt were explosive throughout as the likes of the title track, “Like Father, Like Son” and pit-inducing classic “The Toxic Waltz” unleashed combative riffs like they were going out of style. At this stage, ‘new’ vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza was well bedded in and his deliciously diabolical diatribes hit so much harder than on 1987’s middling Pleasures Of The Flesh. One thing is for sure, you certainly can’t imagine Paul Baloff singing the lyrics to the frog-ribbiting, harmonica-introducing “Cajun Hell” and, love him or hate him, Zetro was now the singer of Exodus….and long may he reign!

A rabble-rousing, crowd-pleasing effort, Fabulous Disaster is the pinnacle of Exodus’ 80’s and 90’s output and proved that thrash was more than just merely alive and well in 1989….it was positively world-beating! 8/10

Exodus:

• Steve “Zetro” Souza – vocals
• Gary Holt – guitars
• Rick Hunolt – guitars
• Rob McKillop – bass
• Tom Hunting – drums

Trivia:

• Fabulous Disaster was drummer Tom Hunting’s last release with Exodus until the 1997 live album Another Lesson in Violence.
• Fabulous Disaster is one of only two Exodus albums to include two song covers (the other being 1992’s Force of Habit).
• “The Toxic Waltz” is one of the band’s most famous songs, being played at almost every Exodus concert since its debut live performance in 1989.

Track Listing:

1. “The Last Act of Defiance”
2. “Fabulous Disaster”
3. “The Toxic Waltz”
4. “Low Rider” (War cover)
5. “Cajun Hell”
6. “Like Father, Like Son”
7. “Corruption”
8. “Verbal Razors”
9. “Open Season”
10. “Overdose” (AC/DC cover)