Ex-EXODUS RICK HUNOLT Looks Back On Thrash Origins: 'We Inspired METALLICA And SLAYER'

Summary

• Rick Hunolt says early EXODUS ‘inspired’ METALLICA and SLAYER, claiming all three came from the same West Coast thrash ‘amoeba’.
• He picks Tempo of the Damned as his best guitar work, recorded while battling addiction and sensing his time in EXODUS was ending.
• After leaving the band, Hunolt worked at Dollar Tree, rebuilt his life, and now returns with new project NEFARIOUS.

Ex-EXODUS guitarist Rick Hunolt didn’t bother dancing around it during a recent chat with Pod Scum host Rexx Ruger (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). When Ruger put Hunolt and Gary Holt on the same tier as Hetfield/Hammett or Hanneman/King, Hunolt didn’t blink.

“We were there in the beginning,” he said. “We inspired those guys very much.”

No marketing team approved that quote. It’s just a guy who was actually in the trenches when Bay Area thrash was crawling out of dive bars and cheap demo tapes. Hunolt’s not playing modesty games.

He’s calling it how he sees it: EXODUS was right there when the genre’s wiring was getting soldered together by sweaty dudes in leather and denim.

“The DNA was pretty much the same over here on the West Coast,” Hunolt added, calling out the tight-knit group of early guitar freaks that helped define the scene. And let’s be honest, the guy’s got a point. This wasn’t some secret mystical club; it was a handful of maniacs trading riffs and pretending record labels didn’t exist.

Sure, METALLICA ended up in stadiums while EXODUS took the long road through Headbangers Ball and indie label purgatory. But anyone who’s heard Bonded by Blood at full volume knows that album didn’t just hold its own against Kill ‘Em All.

In some ways, it out-grimed it. Hunolt himself called Bonded the “groundbreaking” one, saving Fabulous Disaster for the “commercial” nod and Tempo of the Damned for pure guitar devastation.

He didn’t leave EXODUS in a blaze of glory, either. His 2004 exit came at rock bottom, buried under addiction, depression, and the feeling that something he built had slipped away.

“I was a mess. We all were. But everybody got better, and I didn’t,” he admitted.

If that’s not raw enough for you, here’s his follow-up punch to the gut:

“One day I woke up and I wasn’t in EXODUS anymore. It damn near took me out.”

Hunolt’s honesty isn’t for pity points. It’s part of the same reason people still talk about the H-Team guitar attack. No filters. No fluff. Just riffs that hit like a shovel and a past that never got sugar-coated.

He’s not trying to rewrite history to insert EXODUS into the “Big Four” conversation. But when Dave Mustaine and Kirk Hammett also name-drop Bonded by Blood as essential, you start to see the blueprint for a “Big Five” was already penciled in. It just never got inked.

Now in NEFARIOUS, Hunolt’s still shredding, flanked by fellow lifers from HIRAX, HEATHEN, and DEATH ANGEL. Their debut, Addicted to Power, drops July 18, and yeah, the title doesn’t exactly scream nuance, but it doesn’t have to.

EXODUS may not have become a household name, but Hunolt’s fingerprints are all over the genre’s bones. You don’t need a Hall of Fame nod to be a cornerstone.

You just need to rip, survive, and keep going.

That’s it, I guess. 🤘

If you want all the context, not just the tasty bits, it’s here 👇

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