DURING THE LAST part of Gary Holt’s tenure as Slayer’s second guitarist, he sometimes felt like he was neglecting his main band, Exodus. As honored as he was to be in Slayer, a group he had loved since their first album, 1983’s Show No Mercy, he wished he had more time to spend with Exodus, the group he had played with since high school and for which he assumed the primary songwriter role after Kirk Hammett left in 1983 to join Metallica.
While Holt wrote and played on all of Exodus’ 2014 studio album Blood In, Blood Out, he couldn’t completely dedicate himself to the group. He missed shows that coincided with Slayer gigs (Heathen’s Kragen Lum filled in on those tours). And, if Holt hadn’t been in Slayer for nearly nine years, Exodus likely would have released another album between Blood In, Blood Out and their new release, Persona Non Grata. There’s no question that Holt was a major asset to Slayer when they needed someone to fill in for the late Jeff Hanneman. But some fans and former members of Exodus argue that his years with Slayer jeopardized his main band.
“Slayer were great. They treated me like family from day one,” says Holt from his home in Northern California. “But, yeah, every day there were moments when I missed doing Exodus. The saving grace was that I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, and then it would be all Exodus, all the time. Plus, I had the support of all my guys. And they had my support to do shows without me and tour regularly. But they’re my brothers and I couldn’t wait to be back. Two months after the Slayer tour ended, I was back on tour with Exodus. I barely even took a break.”
Holt’s hunger to return to Exodus shines through the jagged riff shards and crushing rhythms of. Rarely has he sounded as joyously entrenched in the band’s visceral mix of aggressive thrash, old-school metal, and deft, fluid leads. In Slayer,.
