In a new interview with Scott Davidson of Chicago's Rebel Radio, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt discussed the band's twelfth studio album, "Goliath", which came out on March 20 via Napalm Records.

Speaking about the title of the follow-up to 2021's "Persona Non Grata", Gary said: "Well, the song ['Goliath'] just screams enormity to all of us.

And then we just like the sound of it.

We've never had a single-word title to the album, and the album's pretty enormous as it is.

So we thought it was the perfect title for the record.".

Referring to the fact that "Goliath" marks the first EXODUS album since singer Rob Dukes's return to the band, Davidson asked Holt if he writes the music differently based on who is fronting the group.

He responded: "No, I write the same, no matter who's singing.

I mean, I'm gonna write the lyrics that I write.

But on this album, we learned early on that Rob was capable of so much more than what we knew he could do, which we knew he could do ultra-aggressive, violent thrash better than anybody.

But he showed all this additional range that he had developed, and so you do start running with it a little bit.

And the album was such a collaborative feature anyway — there were so many creators on this record, and it really gave the sound its distinct flavor.".

Holt elaborated on the songwriting process for EXODUS, stating: "Well, you know, if I'm writing a song, it just starts with a riff.

If Lee [Altus, EXODUS guitarist] writes a song, it starts with a riff as well.

Lee wrote a lot of material for this and the follow-up album.

Rob wrote a lot of lyrics.

Lee wrote some lyrics.

Tom Hunting [EXODUS drummer] wrote lyrics.

Jack [Gibson], our bass player, is a huge sounding board for arrangement advice and stuff.

So everybody contributes, and there's no ego where, like, I have to write all the stuff.

In the past, I wrote most of the albums 'cause I had to.

I've always welcomed more input.

And the more chefs in the EXODUS kitchen, the better.".

EXODUS has been experiencing a huge creative surge, with Holt stating: "We were experiencing a huge creative surge.

And we're also well aware of our current age.

We don't know what tomorrow brings, you know what I mean? I just turned 62, and we figured if we could complete two albums at once, we could go on vacation when this album touring cycle is done and don't have to go back into the studio at all.".

The band has been working with new mixing engineer Tom Johnson instead of Andy Sneap, who had mixed EXODUS's previous eight albums.

Sneap left the project in December 2025 after nearly three decades of collaboration.