Exhorder

Early days (1985-1994)

Exhorder was formed in 1985 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After releasing several demos in the vein of pure thrash metal, they continued this sound with their debut studio album, Slaughter in the Vatican, released in 1990. They adapted more of a groove metal-oriented sound by their second (and to date last) album, The Law, released in 1992. The band dissolved two years later.

Reunion (2008-present)

On May 9, 2008, it was announced that the band had reunited and had begun writing new material. As of that day, the band's official Myspace page contains the reunited group's lineup as well as the headline "writing new material for the return of Exhorder". They played their first reunion show on November 14, 2009 at Southport Hall in Jefferson, LA followed by another less than a month later on December 12, 2009 at City Club in Houma, LA. A reunion show with Crowbar at the Hangar in New Orleans on February 12 was their most recent performance to date. The lineup for all of these shows was the same as that of The Law album.

Drummer Seth Davis was on a clinic tour in 2010 when he was approached by the New Orleans metallers. Davis filled in for original drummer Chris Nail, and toured with Exhorder from early 2010 to late 2011, performing classic songs from the band's two albums - The Law and Slaughter in the Vatican. On March 22, 2011 bassist Frankie Sparcello died of unknown causes. In the interim and in order to fulfill 3 show dates already booked, the band recruited local bass virtuoso Jorge Caicedo to fill in at the last minute. The band also played Maryland Deathfest on May 28. The band has since been on hiatus.

Controversy

There has been controversy amongst Pantera's and Exhorder's fans over similarities between both bands' sound, fueled by the success of Pantera and the obscurity of Exhorder.

In disagreement with the opinion that Exhorder is "Pantera minus the good songs," AMG's review of Slaughter in the Vatican expresses that "perhaps a more accurate billing would be to call them Pantera without the major label backing." They also point to the fact that the title of Exhorder's debut, along with the unsubtle album cover, "certainly didn't help [its] cause any."

Exhorder lead vocalist Kyle Thomas has stated that he does not care about any of the criticism and is sick of seeing Exhorder's name tied to Pantera's. He also stated that he and some members of Pantera were friends, and that he mourns the loss of Dimebag Darrell. Recently, Thomas suggested that while it is possible Pantera may have been influenced by his band, the members of Pantera "work[ed] a ... lot harder than [they] did."

Band members

Studio albums

Live albums

Demos