Song for Sunday: “March Of The Sycophants” by Exodus

Nov 23

Banger from 2010 brings the heat to Good Friendly Writing Fun

The first Rob Dukes era of Exodus was the heaviest they’ve ever sounded. That’s saying something as the band has yet to record a ballad like many of their peers. He brought a different attitude to the vocals than what Paul Baloff and Steve “Zetro” Souza had delivered. It was more pummeling, punishing, and the no-nonsense approach to the music and the lyrics proved that Exodus wasn’t messing around, not that they’d ever stopped messing around.

“March Of The Sycophants” is the sixth of 11 songs on Exhibit B: The Human Condition, the bridge track dividing this final LP of the initial Dukes stint in half. It begins with a drum fill leading to this bouncy riff that soon segues to the verse groove—simply put, it cooks. The pre-chorus is sludgy, the chorus slower, and after the second pass through, Gary Holt and the boys take off before an extended solo closes it out. The social commentary is biting, the norm for most thrash acts.

Based on Setlist.com stats, Exodus has never played the song live. A shame, because it’s such an addictive cut. Generation Kill, however, the crossover thrash group Dukes founded in 2008, has performed it thrice, twice under the name Shovel Headed Kill Machine (snippet from the second performance below). To hear it live and to watch it be played live is insanity, and my hope is that the track finds its way onto Exodus setlists in 2026. It’s time, and the pit will be very active.

New album slated for March. Until then, let’s march.