To What Extent Is Kirk Hammet's Involvement In Exodus' Phenomenal Debut Album, Bonded By Blood? This Is What Gary Holt Said

Kirk Hammet (Instagram @kirkhammet / @photosbyjeffyeager)

JAKARTA - Exodus guitarist Gary Holt has revealed whether Kirk Hammett was involved in the songwriting process on the debut album of the American thrash metal giant, Bonded By Blood, which was released in 1985.

Hammet, who has been a member of Metallica for the past 39 years, is Exodus' original guitarist. Holt talks about her former tandem on "Put Up Your Dukes," a podcast hosted by former Exodus vocalist Rob Dukes.

"There was a riff I wrote when Kirk was in the band, and he tried to adapt it, tried to change it up a little bit - the old one, 'I changed it a little bit. I was a co-writer on this riff,'" recalls Holt. "And it was, like, two riffs, I think. And the rest was written after he left. We never used Kirk Hammett's riffs, until (album) Tempo Of The Damned (2004) when we recorded (the original Exodus track) Impaler."

Holt continued, the first two Exodus songs were completed after Hammet moved to Metallica. The songs are Strike Of The Beast and No Love.

"The greatest talent I have, if you want to call it talent, is memory. I can remember all of them. I remember showing him... I could picture it as a movie, showing Kirk the riff of Strike Of The Beast, and I could imagine it as though as if I were watching it in a movie."

The original Exodus line-up consisted of guitarists Hammett and Tim Agnello, drummer Tom Hunting and vocalist Keith Stewart. Holt joined the band in 1981, while Kirk left two years before Bonded By Blood was released.

Although Exodus is rarely mentioned alongside the "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax — Bonded By Blood's albums inspired bands such as Testament, Death Angel, Vio-lence and many others.

Bonded By Blood is considered one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time.

Beyond that phenomenal debut album, Hammet admitted in 2018 that Metallica's songs like Creeping Death and Trapped Under Ice were inspired by two of Exodus' other numbers, namely Die By His Hand and Impaler.