The original Bay Area thrash band, Exodus, has parted ways with frontman Rob Dukes and welcomed Steve "Zetro" Souza back into the fold.  The band's lead guitarist and principal songwriter, Gary Holt, issued the following statement:  "As a band, we all had to make a very difficult choice to part ways with Rob Dukes. We have nothing but love and admiration for him and the deepest gratitude for the hard work he has put in and the great work on some killer records. But at this time, Tom (Hunting, drummer), Lee (Altus, guitar), Jack (Gibson, bass) and myself thought a change was necessary and the unanimous choice going forward was to welcome back Steve Souza to the fold!"  Dukes also released a statement over the weekend, expressing gratitude for his time with Exodus and enthusiasm about the prospect of moving forward with his own band, Generation Kill.

Dukes joined Exodus in 2005, replacing Souza after his second stint with the band.  Souza became the voice of Exodus for the first time back in 1986, appearing on the band's classic Fabulous Disaster and several other albums before leaving in 1993.  He then rejoined the band in 2002 following the death of original singer Paul Baloff, leaving again in 2004.  Since then, the singer who also spent time with Testament back when they were known as Legacy, has been working with his band Hatriot and a Bay Area AC/DC tribute band known as AC/DZ.  It was at an AC/DZ gig a couple of weeks ago, in fact, that Holt and Souza had a conversation that led to the decision of bringing Souza back.  Exodus is scheduled to appear next at the Bang Your Head! Festival in Germany on July 11th.