Unsurprisingly, "abrasive" remains the operative noun on _The Atrocity Exhibition_. The first of a duo of releases, Exodus' eighth studio effort shows no signs of fatigue, and certainly doesn't let on that most of its participants had already established themselves among the thrash metal glitterati by the mid-Eighties. Instead, the album spews its vitriol in a most lucid fashion from the start and very rarely lets up. Andy Sneap's production combines equal parts overdrive with a bottom end that will shatter plate glass windows with ease, while the album's opener "Riot Act" serves as an appropriately bruising opener. Once again, Rob Dukes' Rottweiler snarl energises Holt's six-string sadism in ways that his predecessor could only dream, and with Tom Hunting back behind the drum kit, the signature Exodus eighths make a welcome and frequent return.

Not that _The Atrocity Exhibition_ could ever be mistaken as a ham-fisted attempt to dress old as new. For the duration of the album, Exodus tear through each track with the verve and tenacity that would put musicians half their age to shame, and even if at times some songs suffer from being slightly too long, the onslaught remains utterly relentless and consistently mesmerizing. With a coda as devastating as "The Garden of Bleeding" and "Bedlam 1-2-3", the next instalment of _The Atrocity Exhibition_ can't come soon enough.