In a new interview with “Reckless” Rexx Ruger of the Pod Scum podcast, vocalist Kyle Thomas of thrash and groove trailblazers EXHORDER was asked about a possible follow-up to the band’s fourth full-length album, “Defectum Omnium”, which came out in March 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records. The 55-year-old New Orleans-based singer, who also fronts doom metal legends TROUBLE, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET) “At the moment, I’m kind of in the middle of recording a new TROUBLE album. I gotta get back on to it and get busy with it again. We’re planning on releasing that next year and doing some touring. But EXHORDER is back in the mindset of, okay, in March it’ll be two years since this album was released. Touring cycles for albums are typically a two-year run now instead of a one-year run like it used to be. So we’re feeling that, okay, now it’s time. The good news is, is we’ve fulfilled our contractual obligation to our label. But we’ve already talked with them about, ‘Well, if y’all wanna work again, let’s talk.’ So I have no concern of whether or not we’re gonna have a record deal. It’s just a matter of how it’s gonna happen and when. We have just really kind of gotten started on the content for that next album. I’ve got probably fewer cohesive ideas than [bassist] Jason [VieBrooks] does. Jason‘s got probably four to six structures and skeletons of songs that will eventually be songs, and he’s recorded four of those with [drummer] Sasha [Horn], just to kind of see what’s gonna work and what’s not — just pre-production, normal pre-production. My stuff’s a lot more jumbled. I’ve got so many videos of riffs — a lot of good stuff, and I know a lot of it’s probably not gonna make it to the album, but I haven’t had the time really to focus on it that Jason has, and I’m okay with it because Jason, musically, has been the one carrying the weight on his shoulders, as far as coming up with songs for last couple of albums. So I’m happy that he’s good at that and enjoys doing it because it takes a lot of responsibility and burden off of me if I’m not able to get to it soon enough. So it doesn’t matter to me if this time I only have two songs instead of four that made it to the album. And now that we’ve got [former CANNIBAL CORPSE guitarist] Pat [O’Brien] interested [in contributing to the songwriting], say Pat‘s got two of ’em. Let’s say Pat‘s got two or three of ’em, I got two or three of ’em, and Jason‘s got four or five of ’em, already we’ve got more songs than we need.”
Asked if it feels realistic that fans will get a new album from EXHORDER in 2026 or more likely 2027, Kyle said: “I’m gonna say 2027. We don’t wanna ever be in a rush.”
Featuring 12 tracks and ominous cover artwork by Travis Smith (KATATONIA, OPETH),“Defectum Omnium” followed EXHORDER‘s critically revered 2019 release “Mourn The Southern Skies”.
“Defectum Omnium” was recorded in part at Fat Track Studio in Cincinnati, Ohio with engineer Rob Nadler. The LP marked EXHORDER‘s first with O’Brien, who made his live debut with the group at the 2022 Maryland Deathfest.
The Maryland Deathfest gig took place three months after guitarist Marzi Montazeri left EXHORDER, explaining at the time in a statement that he “decided to no longer be a part of it.”
Shortly after the Houston-based Montazeri announced his departure from EXHORDER, the remaining members of the band — Thomas, VieBrooks and Horn — said that they and Marzi had been “moving in different directions” and assured fans that they would “continue to thrive”
Thomas is now the sole remaining founding member of EXHORDER, which released its debut album, “Slaughter In The Vatican”, way back in 1990. In February 2020, EXHORDER parted ways with its original guitarist Vinnie LaBella, who wrote much of the material on “Mourn The Southern Skies”. The remaining members of the group later issued a statement saying that they would fulfill their “touring and recording obligations for 2020 and beyond.”
EXHORDER released two albums in the early 1990s through the Roadrunner label — the aforementioned “Slaughter In The Vatican” and 1992’s “The Law” — before breaking up, with Kyle going on to form FLOODGATE and also briefly appearing live as the vocalist for TROUBLE, which he later joined on a full-time basis (and is still a member of).
EXHORDER, which is cited by many as the originator of the riff-heavy power-groove approach popularized by PANTERA, completed a U.S. headlining tour in late 2021 during which it performed “Slaughter In The Vatican” in its entirety.
Photo credit: Erik Hernandez (courtesy of Nuclear Blast Records)
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