After the release of the classic Bonded By Blood, Exodus was hailed as the new champions of Thrash Metal. This was quite true but interminable delays in the release of their follow up album meant that Exodus lost some of the momentum that Bonded By Blood had built. Another major change was in the line-up. Pleasures Of The Flesh saw the departure of Paul Ballof and the entry of Steve Souza into the band. Souza had cut his teeth in an early version of Testament (when they were called Legacy).

Souza does a great job here and Pleasures Of The Flesh is an excellent follow up to Bonded By Blood. The guitar duo of Hunolt and Holt are again in top form and one can only be thankful that Kirk Hammet was poached by Metallica thus making way for the Holt and Hunolt tag team. The riffs on Pleasures Of The Flesh are not as rabid and brutal as those on Bonded By Blood but Exodus more than make up for that with some classy Thrash Metal song writing.

Opener Deranged sets the tone for the rest of the album with Parasite, And Then There Were None and Chemi-Kill being the other standout tracks. Pleasures Of The Flesh is a worthy follow up to the classic that is Bonded By Blood.

It is now 20 years since the release of Pleasures Of The Flesh. However, the magic the band possesses ensures that this album can still give any modern day thrash band a sound hiding.

Label - Combat
Year Of Release - 1987

1. Deranged
2. Till Death Do Us Part
3. Parasite
4. Brain Dead
5. Faster Than You'll Ever Live To Be
6. Pleasures Of The Flesh
7. 30 Seconds
8. Seeds Of Hate
9. Chemi-Kill
10. Choose Your Weapon