Exodus Invited 11-Year-Old Shredder Maya Neelakantan to Rip It Up on “Brain Dead”

In what seems to be a concerted effort to play with only the most influential thrash metal bands out there, 11-year-old guitarist Maya Neelakantan added Bay Area thrashers Exodus to her list when she joined them on stage.

For those that don't remember, Neelakantan was a contestant on America's Got Talent just a couple months ago. At the time she was 10 and she nailed Metallica's "Master of Puppets" after personally getting the band's blessing to do so. Then, just this past September, she got on stage with Testament to play "Curse of the Legions of Death (C.O.T.L.O.D.)" from the band's iconic album The Legacy. Fast forward to this past Monday and she managed to join Exodus on stage while they performed at the House Of Blues in Orlando, Florida.

And while that would seemingly be enough, she's gotten recognition from some of metal's biggest guitarists, having hung out with Exodus and Slayer guitarist Gary Holt, as well as receiving an Adam Jones signature guitar after he saw her jam on Tool's "7empest." She's basically your favorite guitarist's favorite young guitarist.

When asked what got her into thrash, she said she'd been listening to the genre since she was just a toddler.

"I have been listening to Slayer, Metallica, Slipknot, Exodus and Lamb of God ever since I was two years old. I loved thrash metal because of how energetic it sounded. Every time it was playing, I always jumped up and down."

Yeah, I wouldn't pull a "name three songs" on her, man. She's apparently serious about her love for thrash metal. As for what she plans to do with music, she said she wants to be a pioneer rather than play other people's music for the rest of her life.

"My dream is to create a genre of my own. Something that merges all of my musical interests together. It'll be a combination of extreme thrash metal and intricate Carnatic music in its traditional form. And it will be something as crafted as Tool music."

You know... maybe the kids are alright. You can check out the clip of her playing with Exodus below.