Bonded by Blood is the debut
studio album by the
San Francisco thrash metal band
Exodus. Although the album was completed in the summer of 1984, it was not released until 1985 due to issues with Exodus and their record label. It is considered one of the most influential
thrash metal albums of all time, utilizing the solo trade-off method which would later become a staple of many thrash and
death metal songs. It is also the only full length studio album of Exodus to feature
Paul Baloff on vocals, though he was also on their
1982 Demo. Baloff was back in Exodus for five years (from 1997 to his death in 2002), and appeared on their 1997 live album
Another Lesson in Violence.