Exodus announces new album Persona Non Grata for November 2021 release, shares brutal track “The hits will continue (until morale improves)”

American thrash metal band Exodus recently announced their new album titled Persona non grata which is due out later this year on November 19. This will be the band’s eleventh studio album since the band’s formation in 1979. The album is released by their current label, Nuclear Blast, and will be the band’s first album in seven years.

Drummer Tom Hunting is currently recovering from cancer treatment after his diagnosis earlier this year in February. The band temporarily replaced him with former drummer John Tempesta in order to perform their festival shows.

A new song and music video titled “The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)” was released on August 20, 2021, making it the first single from the album. The song has the band’s signature thrash metal style with its hardcore guitar riffs and intense drums courtesy of Hunting and guitarist and frontman Gary Holt. The lyricism is striking.

The clip features a man who may have been taken hostage or prisoner. He is brutally beaten throughout the video, although he also tries to resist and fight back. He is forced to watch a video which features riots and intense violence. The video also alludes to the COVID-19 pandemic. The violence escalates as masked men enter the room. The man is taken away and the video ends with a woman thrown into the same room, an armed guard holds up a stick, and the door closes, ending the video.

List of songs from Persona Non Grata:

1- “Persona non grata”
2- “MERL”
3- “Slipping into madness”
4- “Elitist”
5- “Prescribe horror”
6- “The blows will continue (until morale improves)”
7- “The years of death and agony”
8- “Click bait”
9- “Cosa del Pantano”
10- “Lunatic-Liar-Lord”
11- “The division fires”
12- “Antigraine”

Photo credit: Gary Moratz