Gary Holt

Gary Holt — born in the United States in 1964 — is Exodus's guitarist and principal composer, and the only member present through practically the band's entire history. Exodus is one of the founding bands of Bay Area thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Slayer and Testament. Bonded by Blood (1985) is one of the genre's cornerstones: extreme speed, cutting riffs and an aggression that set the standard of the Californian scene. The record was made before several classics of the style but released after them because of label delays — a delay that cost the band the commercial position its contemporaries reached. Holt is the one who writes that material. His riffs combine rhythmic precision with progressions that move away from heavy metal's blues template, and he is the one who sustained the band through decades of singer changes and interruptions. Between 2011 and 2019 he took on another role: he played guitar in Slayer live after Jeff Hanneman's illness and death, becoming a member of the band until it closed. To perform another founding guitarist's repertoire for almost a decade, before thrash's most demanding audience, is a rare position — and he held it without leaving Exodus.