Steve "Zetro" Souza has been in and out of Exodus as a vocalist for majority of the band's career, or from 1986 to 1993 and again from 2002 to 2004. Now he's back in 2014! While there doesn't seem to be any indication if Souza will be on the new Exodus album or if former vocalist Rob Dukes has already recorded his parts, the band has made a formal announcement regarding the change:
"As a band, we all had to make a very difficult choice to part ways with [singer] Rob Dukes. We have nothing but love and admiration for him and the deepest gratitude for the hard work he has put in and the great work on some killer records. But at this time, Tom [Hunting, drums], Lee [Altus, guitar], Jack [Gibson, bass] and myself thought a change was necessary and the unanimous choice going forward was to welcome back Steve Souza to the fold!"
The statement seems to insinuate Souza will be on the new record and not Dukes, but I guess we'll see soon enough. Dukes was the band's vocalist from 2005 up to this weekend. Souza is psyched to be back in the band too:
"I spent a great part of my life with Exodus. That blood flows through me, [and] even not being in the band for the past 10 years, you can't erase that chemistry. I'm very excited!"
Dukes hasn't made a public statement yet. He'll have plenty to keep him busy with his Generation Kill project.
Update: In a new statement, guitarist Gary Holt has confimred the Souza will begin recording vocals for the new album later this week:
"This was the most difficult decision of our lives, one the entire band made.
"This was not a majority-rule situation; that would not have worked. We all had to agree, and we all did. [There was] no pressure; everyone had to be on the same page.
"This band has all the love for Rob you could ever have for someone, [and] this was not easy.
"The details we will never bother going into. I only ask for people to be respectful both ways, for Rob and for Zetro.
"The lines of communication with the band and Steve are the strongest they've ever been. All things have been discussed — the past, present and future going forward.
"I have had the honor of watching Rob go from unknown guitar tech to awesome singer and frontman and could not be prouder, and his future is bright as fuck, that's for sure. It doesn't end here. The world will see plenty more from Rob, this much I will bank on. But as for the new [EXODUS] record [is concerned], it is still in full swing.
"Steve will start [recording] vocals [for the new EXODUS CD] on Wednesday and the small sampling I have of him on the new songs is fucking amazing. His best shit ever is coming. Be prepared, it's going to kill.
"But I am well aware that as the so-called face of the band, it is I who will be blamed, the guy who masterminded it all, yada yada yada, but this was a choice made by all. And the most fucked up thing is doing this, it wasn't easy.
"None of us have ever been good at this shit despite all the lineup changes over the years.
"Rob's contributions are some of the best stuff this band has ever did, a big part of this band's return, and we our grateful."
