Exciter - Thrash, Speed, Burn (2008)

By the time Thrash, Speed, Burn came around, it had been eight years since Exciter had released new, original material, the widest gap in between studio albums of their career, barring the New Testament compilation. As happens so very often with a lot of these underground veterans, members arrived and departed, the core of axeslinger John Ricci and drummer Rik Charron remaining from the Blood of Tyrants lineup, and Rob Cohen joining on the bass. For the third time in their history (I'm not counting Malnati from the 1988 s/t), Exciter had been blessed in finding a singer of some considerable talent.

Winter sided more on the Jacques Bélanger side of the spectrum than the more raw and unpracticed appeal of Dan Beehler, with a hostile, high pitch that stays on target, though never quite as uncanny and out of control as Jacques. You can hear a bit of the usual suspects, primarily Halford, Conklin, and Dirkschneider in his tone, maybe a little 'Blitz' Ellsworth in his lower timbre, but he's probably the most balanced of the vocalists in the Exciter stable, and his presence contributed greatly to my own enjoyment of the record, since I found a lot of the songwriting here to be par for the course, angry and lean and similar to the level of aggression found on their 1992 album Kill After Kill. I was actually quite happy for that, because I'm not sure I could have stomached another Blood of Tyrants and it's a positive that the band had settled back into their role as the reliable Canadian speed metal mavens in a world where Razor were doing little but the occasional novelty gig and Anvil were off being movie stars.

This isn't rocket science, people, but it's fuel enough to at least reach the velocity you'd need to escape Earth's atmosphere. Ricci inaugurates the disc with some distortion and his whammy bar, and they bust into a relatively fast paced, pummeling array of chords that Winter's voice easily slices through. There are pure rippers here like the titular "Thrash Speed Burn","Demons Gate" and "The Punisher", the third of which features some of Winter's most infectious screams on the album. But in true Exciter tradition, they also slow the pace for some more 'atmospheric' and diabolical cuts like "Evil Omen" or "Crucifixion". I like the coiled pump and density of the bass guitar tone, and the gang shouts here are well placed and make sense rather than standing out like the sore thumbs they were on Blood of Tyrants; and I think this was also Charron's best overall performance as the resident god of thunder.

Still, though, Thrash, Speed, Burn never really tries anything new or different and it falls well short of exceptional. As far as Exciter's canon, the riffs here feel fairly fresh and never carbon copies of their past material, but they nonetheless have that familiar scent about them that does not seem as if a whole lot of effort was placed in their construction. Ricci's leads are unhinged and entertaining, and Winter's delivery sharp and well matched to the aggressive writing, but the songs don't really stand out long after listening, and the lyrics are basically just an incessant stream of cliches. That said, this is at least the best of Exciter's output since Kill After Kill 16 years earlier, and marked a new foundation from which the band could build a future that I doubted anyone would think possible after all the many years and roster changes the band had undergone.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (storming senses again)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - New Testament (2004)

I don't think there's any question that long term guitar offender John Ricci was proud of what he had accomplished with the late 90s/early 'oughts Exciter line-up. They were releasing albums with some consistently through Osmose, gigging through festivals and small tours, and he'd unearthed what might be the band's tightest rhythm section ever, not to mention the harpy-like vocal talents of Jacques Bélanger. A cause for celebration? Sure, so they decided to hit the studio and re-record a number of Exciter tracks, newer and older, gorged upon a louder, punishing production that streamlined them with the most recent albums The Dark Command (1997) and Blood of Tyrants (2000). Sure, it had been four years since a proper new studio album and would be four more until one would arrive (with yet another new lineup), but this New Testament was surely worthy of filling the void...right?

That really all depends on just how much you treasure the original versions of these songs. I know that Ricci has mentioned on their website that he found these renditions to be stronger than their older incarnations, and it's not as if the band combed through and re-worked all of their early classics. The selection here is largely based around their live rotation, so they're all practiced and delivered with the intensity that they'd plan on bringing to the stage. I also don't think one could argue that, while perhaps not as unique as Dan Beehler, Bélanger had a more capable range and a lot more muscle and volume to his phrasing than his predecessor. But is there reason enough here to listen to these over my Heavy Metal Mania, Violence & Force and Long Live the Loud originals? I don't think so. As brazen as the new vocalist was, and as pumped and blustering as the guitars and drums felt on New Testament, I can't say that they evoke the same nostalgia, though they certainly functioned as a promotional showcase for their lives.

To be fair, Jacques takes this fairly serious, and the band seem to rein in a bit of the silliness that dampened my appreciation for Blood of Tyrants. Not all of the tracks chosen for this comp were taken from the 1983-85 era, there were quite a few more recent selections. I can only assume that the production of the latest album did not sit well with Exciter, for they've included "Rule With an Iron Fist" and "Brutal Warning" here, sounding more level, but not a whole lot different. Ditto for a few pieces from The Dark Command: "Burn at the Stake", "Ritual Death" and the title track. Kill After Kill is represented by "Rain of Terror", while Ricci has chosen to pass on any of the cuts from Exciter (O.T.T.) or Unveiling the Wicked, the two albums he was not involved with. Yet I'm sure that Exciter fans who had been following them through the numerous shifts in membership were not so keen on hearing this material so much as the classics, and there is a considerable chunk of this collection (60%, in fact) devoted just to the first three albums.

Of course they included the legendary title tracks: "Heavy Metal Maniac", "Violence & Force" and "Long Live the Loud" are all accounted for and uncompromising, and probably among the most fun here in terms of experiencing them through Bélanger's precipitous shrieking, which is often multi-tracked for a more harrowing assault. The solos are also a little different, admittedly better structured, but not enough that I'd forsake the old versions just for their execution. Ricci performs the bass himself, and does a passable job implementing a few fills rather than being lazy and following the guitar progressions 100%. Other classic here include "Stand Up and Fight", "Rising of the Dead" and "Black Witch" from Heavy Metal Maniac, the last of which is the one choice here which I feel is absolutely superior to the original form; "Pounding Metal" from Violence & Force; "I Am the Beast" and "Victims of Sacrifice" from Long Live the Loud, the latter featuring some nice shrieks over the thicker guitars that intro the song.

By now there are a shit ton of these sorts of collections from all over the spectrum, in particular popular among old school trad metal and thrash bands, but also some in the death and black metal fields; so you already know whether or not you're willing to accept the changes. There are many who will simply shun such releases on principle, but in truth they're not a bad deal if you favor the band's current style and sound. That said, I feel that the onus in on the band to really 'add' something if they plan on putting out such a collection, and in so many cases they just seem like enhancements in production or a chance for the artist to play with their new studio toys, or as with New Testament, the new singer. As I'm somewhat of a purist, I found this for the most part unnecessary, only one of the songs actually superior to its former life, but fans of Jacques Bélanger will certainly dig his interpretations, especially seeing that this turned out to be his last dance with the band (at least in studio). So, really, if you love The Dark Command and/or Blood of Tyrants like sibling(s), bump the score up a notch. I'll play the curmudgeon and stick with the Ricci/Beehler/Johnson versions.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Blood of Tyrants (2000)

By the turn of the century, Exciter seemed to have at long last re-established a stable lineup and label relationship through French imprint Osmose Productions, and Blood of Tyrants, their 8th album, was the natural followup to The Dark Command that many were no doubt expecting, with that similar amped up speed/power metal hybrid centered around the dominant vocals of Jacques Bélanger. Sadly, I found this to be a mild dip in quality for the Canadians, one of those albums that might or not be aware of its own comic nature. For you see, while Bélanger retains that strong, higher pitch you come to expect from energetic, traditional trad/power metal front men, the constant grunting and 'evil' backups blend with his siren cries to cross the line from charisma to caricature.

Still a strong influence circa Harry Conklin (Jag Panzer), but here it seemed like Jacques was biting more directly from popular veterans like Rob Halford or Udo Dirkschneider. A lot of the lines seem like he's aping the escalating Halford pitch on intense songs like "Painkiller" or "All Guns Blazing" from the 1990 Painkiller album, while elsewhere in tracks such as "Martial Law" or "Blood of Tyrants" itself he sounds eerily similar to David Wayne or Udo, with that grating, post-AC/DC tone. In addition, there are a ton of backing gang shouts, grunts and goofy sounding evil, phlegm filled barks in tracks like "Metal Crusaders" that make the songs feel almost like a joke that no one but the band are in on. In other tunes like "Brutal Warning", it's the very high pitched shrieking lines themselves which seem like to simmer in their own unintentional humor. Not that Jacques has lost any of his edge, the guy can scream and sustain his attack at high volumes, but the arrangement might have been better managed to not seem so self-deprecating.

Otherwise, the album is quite similar to its predecessor, albeit a fraction more raw in terms of the production. The guitars don't feel so muscular as on The Dark Command, though the actual composition is comparable, with simple and frenzied chord structures driving the action and very little sense of subtlety to be found. Ricci beats you over the head repeatedly with his rhythm riffs and the frilly, chaotic solos found in pieces like "Rule With An Iron Fist" while the Charrons pound away mercilessly on the drums and bass like they were both yanked out of some thunder god's litter. You still get the signature Exciter variation, as the band rifles through both faster paced numbers and slower, Sabbath style rockers like "War Cry" or the churning "Predator", so I'd never describe the album as listless, boring or one-note like it might have been.

Alas, Blood of Tyrants is just one of those efforts which I'd categorize as 'amusing', but not very good. The guitars and vocals are bright, the latter perhaps too much so, and it often feels like what might occur if a group were making light of power metal. I realize that's not the intention, but it just goes for the balls too much, like Painkiller or Accept's 90s offerings Death Row or Predator if they were spiked on narcotic stimulants. Often a band will come along and perform this sort of Priest influenced, frenzied material and make it work, like Primal Fear's better material circa 1999-2002 or California's psychotic Cage, but here I felt the songs were more of a flexing of machismo and muscle than an actual thrill ride. I felt like I was choking back tears of horn-throwing laughter rather than digging the riffs. That said, if you deeply enjoy the solo material from Halford or U.D.O., or similar screaming fare, it's possible you'd get more mileage out of this than I did.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10] (the force of the molten mask)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - The Dark Command (1997)

The Dark Command arrived after an even greater gulf in time than that between Exciter (O.T.T.) and Kill After Kill, and with it a new wealth of changes to both the roster and sound of the band. John Ricci and Dan Beehler had parted ways once more, only this time it was Ricci who would carry on Exciter with the entirely new lineup of Marc and Rik Charron (on bass and drums respectively), and the charismatic siren Jacques Bélanger taking up the mantle of screamer. From Noise, the Canadians had moved over to another European label for this record, Osmose Productions, once again making their career seem like a tour de force of many of the genre's heavily involved imprints, great and small and some now defunct.

The first major difference between this album and their prior output was the sheer weight of the production. Never had Ricci achieved such a corpulent, voluminous guitar tone, and even though he's playing the same sort of riffs he'd been crafting over a decade before this, they automatically sound darker, heavier and more menacing. It's difficult to think they'd go in a direction more aggressive than Kill After Kill, but that is precisely what transpired and they didn't make a poor show of it. Bélanger was also a far more brash and varied vocalist than Beehler: maybe lacking that old, scathing immaturity that gave the classic Exciter records so much character, but supplanting it with a presence that could fire shot for shot against a lot of the power metal divas of the 90s. Certainly there's a hint of Halford, Dickinson and Dio in there, but I'd more closely compare Jacques to Harry 'Tyrant' Conklin of Jag Panzer and Satan's Host, with perhaps a dash of Tony Taylor who had fronted Twisted Tower Dire for a time, and some Eric Adams of Manowar in his mid range sneer.

So, considering these changes, it's not a surprise that The Dark Command veers off into a more speed/power metal direction that its predecessors, placing it snugly within the popular European power metal scene sans the cornier Helloween-influenced anthems and keyboards. Still a band who just wanted to kick your teeth in, not reproduce a lot of studio tricks or gimmicks, and this ideology is enforced by Bélanger's dynamic approach to the vocals, which alternated between carefully leveled screams and even some near-guttural vocals in tracks like "Aggressor" and "The Dark Command". There's a bit more low end muted chugging here redolent of a thrash influence, found in something like "Ritual Death", and the solid punk-derived chord patterns that Ricci implements are far more 'evil' sounding. As sacrilegious as it might seem, this is speed metal that you can actually mosh to, with thick bass and thundering drums that compensate for the simplicity of the riff progressions.

Think back on how Rob Halford sort of 're-invented' his Priest roots with the denser, modernized solo albums like Resurrection. This is quite similar, only Exciter did it first, and maybe not as well. There are some great vocal lines in the writhing, forceful "Burn at the Stake", and songs like "Executioner", "Screams from the Gallows" and "Assassins in Rage" to which it's nigh impossible to remain still. But I wasn't left with a major impression or a lot of replay value over time. It's a fun album to listen through when you're in the mood, but there are few guitar riffs I'd dub truly memorable, and as much effort as Jacques clearly put into his debut performance here, nothing resonates with me like, say, any of the title tracks off the first three albums. Still, Exciter gets credit for 'updating' its core aesthetics in a legit matter, and this was a sound bred to aid the band's survival, freshen its pedigree and keep it both on the road and in the hearts and minds of the diminished speed/power fandom of the 90s, surrounded as it was by rapcore, neo-grunge and other bullshit no one really cares about anymore.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (ripping at the seams)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Better Live Than Dead (1993)

One of the things I've always appreciated most about Exciter is how unwilling they are to rip off their fans. Considering that they've got well over 30 years of history behind them, you'd think they might try to capitalize with dozens of live albums, useless 'greatest hits' compilations or other bullshit, but their arbitrary audio products have been incredibly sparse. One compilation of re-recorded tracks with a new lineup, one vinyl EP (which has been included with a re-issue of Long Live the Loud), and only one official live album to my knowledge. The rest: all studio full length albums. No fucking around, just new music whenever the creative bug bites them on their collective arses. I wish more bands would follow the pattern.

Better Live Than Dead is that sole live album, and while the Feel the Knife EP included a pair of appetite-wetting teasers, and Kill After Kill also had a bonus live track ("Born to Kill"), this is the real deal. Recorded in Canada, their home turf, in 1991, it includes 13 tracks exclusively drawn from the first three, classic albums: Heavy Metal Maniac, Violence & Force, and Long Live the Loud. In other words, all the material that actually would matter to the heavy metal connoisseur who might not be so keen on their prim and proper, gimped s/t (1988) or the more aggressive fare they would pursue after that (Kill After Kill and beyond). Originally released through a small label called Bleeding Hearts, it's quite difficult to find, but those interested will have better luck tracking down the superior Megaforce reissue which features the live version of "Born to Kill" and a video for "Rain of Terror" as bonus material.

No real problems with the set choices here, as they blaze through standards like "Heavy Metal Maniac", "Under Attack", "I Am the Beast", "Long Live the Loud", "Pounding Metal" and of course "Violence & Force", covering all the most notable basses. There are a few lulls in the set during "Delivering to the Master" or "Black Witch", the latter of which is one of my least faves from their early output, but Dan Beehler's vocal performance really ties it all together, more consistent at least than the studio sessions for Violence & Force. As for the audio quality, it's pretty raw and down to earth. The guitars and bass are roughly even with the drums and the slicing vocals, with just the one guitarist (Ricci) so the leads aren't supported by a second rhythm player. They were working with yet another in a long series of bassists here (Jeff MacDonald) who only appeared on this live album, but he does a decent job, and Beehler's drumming is like clockwork, always impressive as he's also the vocalist...

Not the greatest of live albums I've heard in this or any other metal sub-genre, but the track list is admirable and it's pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered. Don't expect a lot of variation from the studio incarnations of the songs: the leads are often tweaked but otherwise it's the same straight on, raucous speed metal with screaming vocals. Production isn't perfect, but suitably sincere to the sort of experience their music creates. Honest, filthy and straightforward, with little interest in subtlety or complexity, just fist mashing and hair tornadoes.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Kill After Kill (1992)

Four years can make a lot of difference in anyone's life. One could, theoretically, acquire a high school diploma or four year university degree, assuming one doesn't slack off. One could serve one or more tours of duty overseas, or observe an infant grow from a whining lump of diaper-mud and squinted tears to a walking, talking member of your civilization. As for the Canadian speed metal outfit Exciter, they would endure both a tumultous decay and a phoenix-like rebirth. Kill After Kill is pretty much a 180 degree turn from its self-titled predecessor, and a welcome one, with the band's progenitors Dan Beehler and John Ricci reuniting and returning to the sound that built their following through the first three albums.

It's not quite a complete 'reunion', mind you, since original bassist Alan Johnson had departed and been replaced by David Ledden, who, coincidentally, was once a member of the same Crypt that Rob Malnati (who contributed vocals to the Exciter s/t in 1988) had hailed from. Like it's predecessor, the cover here is quite dull and understated, just a logo carved into a background with the clawed look of the original Howling film posters. Only in the 80s, right? Wrong. Exciter had moved on to yet another record label, this time the excellent Noise Records out of Europe, and it proved an interesting pairing, likely due to their larger following overseas. However, I'm not sure if the band's heavier direction here had anything to do with the signing, so that they might fit in better with their more aggressive label mates, but one thing is clear: Kill After Kill was the most aggressive Exciter record to its day, ramping up the momentum of Long Live the Loud and Violence & Force with a more lethal, nearly thrashing undercurrent.

Right away, with "Rain of Terror" you'll note the more grinding, brutal guitar tone which would not have seemed out of place on an early record by Sodom, Tankard or Kreator. However, the actual songwriting is quite similar to the Canadians' past speed metal classics, with huge punk rhythms, pummeling bass lines and a muscular framework courtesy of Dan Beehler's pounding. His vocals retain a lot of their screaming timbre, but there are songs like "No Life No Future" where he returns more to the mid-range that was dominant on Heavy Metal Maniac. That said, you won't get the uneven distribution of energy that flawed the vocals on Violence & Force, Dan is pretty much spot on throughout the whole record. Some of the screams in tunes like "Cold Blooded Murder" are among the best he's ever evoked, and in general I found the delivery superior to the work of BOTH singers on the previous album.

Kind of like how England's Raven dialed up their meanness for their 1988 album Nothing Exceeds like Excess, Exciter had really reached a new edge. Whether they're plodding along with a slower sureness in "Shadow of the Cross" or frenzied speed/punk metal in "Dog Eat Dog" and "Anger, Hate and Destruction" they were firing off on all cylinders and clearly having a damn good time doing so. This was not a duo you wanted to meet in a dark alley in Ottawa for a fist fight after a drunk streak, because you'd find yourself brass knuckled and broken bottled until bruised and bleeding into the pavement and brickwork. But at the same time, I wouldn't place this in the 'essentials' portion of the Exciter canon. The riffs are decent, but nothing special, and while angrier than Violence & Force or Long Live the Loud, I feel it lacks some of the charm that burned those both into my memory. However, considering this is the last time Beehler and Ricci would be appearing together on a studio album, it delivers what its predecessor did not: a speed metal boot to the posterior.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10] (cold blade or lead in the head)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Exciter O.T.T. (1988)

Following Unveiling the Wicked, Exciter endured a few more shifts in their unstable career. The band moved over to the brief-lived Maze Records imprint, closer to home in Toronto; their fourth label in five albums. The band also decided to bring on a dedicated vocalist that Dan Beehler might focus on the drumming, though he does still contribute quite a few screams when necessary. The result of these maneuvers was the 1988 self-titled record (also known as O.T.T. or Over the Top for the 2005 re-release through Megaforce), and like a lot of such statements, it marked a newly defined sound for the band along with its simplistic, black shining leather cover. Not exactly a new direction for the Canadians, as the melodic nature of the riffing draws back to Unveiling and the wailing vocals have been with the band in varying amounts since the start, but of all Exciter's albums, this is perhaps the biggest departure from the norm.

Many bands reach that point where they've deviated so far from their origins that the inevitable brand of 'sell out' is applied to their latest output. For Metallica, that would be The Black Album. For Slayer, the bouncy Diabolus in Musica. For Exciter, I could see why some might apply such a label to this particular record, though usually it's not such a big ordeal for a smaller act like this who were well off the radar of most mainstream metal fans even at their peak. In their defense, though, the tunes written for Exciter are for the most part stock melodic power speed metal. It's not like the band glammed up and started prancing around the stage like ponies with pants three sizes too tight. They still kept the same general look, and the same guitar and scream-driven songwriting process that fueled the last album. However, I don't think anyone could argue that they weren't attempting to broaden the audience here, and a lot of that shines through the actual production of the disc, which I found to be its primary detriment.

In the past, Exciter had had such a raw passion to their records that one could almost always grasp the rebellious, almost punk-inspired aim that they shared with other speed metal pioneers like the mighty Motörhead, but for this 5th effort they really 'cleaned up' their sound, to the extent that it's irritably polished to the point of no return. Gone are the powerful, potent and primitive riffs that drove Heavy Metal Maniac or Violence & Force, replaced with a mix of friendlier, melodic rhythm guitars dowsed in Brian McPhee's trailing leads. Granted, the guy can play, and this tidier production plays up the clarity of his performance, but it also serves to gimp the strength of the songs, and it comes off rather dry. His leads are solid, and the brief melodic flurries he fashions for a piece like "Scream Bloody Murder" or "Eyes in the Sky" are not without merit. I mean, never would I have expected a classically influenced lead bridge in an Exciter track, but on "Enemy Lines", there it is...

The problem is, that while McPhee's more practiced composition might fit this cleaner veneer, the vocals feel far too restrained by the production, and in response, both newcomer Rob Malnati and Dan Beehler, who have comparable screams and mid-ranges, feel like a bunch of harpies trying to escape a cage at a mythological petting zoo. Track like "Scream Bloody Murder", "I Wanna Be King" and "Playin' With Fire" seem almost awkward when they reach the higher range, and it's a pity, because these are probably the most in tune and professional vocals the band had yet meted out. I also really don't like the rhythm guitar tone that much, it's parched and punchy and in truth, most of the actual riffs felt overly familiar even for its time. As for the drums, they're balanced and acceptable in their execution, but lose some of the wild power that they had on Long Live the Loud.

Exciter feels effectually more like something Riot or Fifth Angel would have released, only both those bands were far more talented at composing such epic, melodic power/speed metal which cried out into the night. If one were to, say, compare this to the Fifth Angel debut or Thundersteel, they would find this instantly outclassed and outpaced. That's not to say it sucks, because a few of the cuts like the aforementioned "Scream Bloody Murder" and "Eyes in the Sky" show some promise, but the album is riddled with a few duds like the shitty "Ready to Rock" which is pedestrian 80s Quiet Riot wannabe bar metal at best, or "O.T.T." itself which has a generic, bluesy NWOBHM strut to the riffing but fails to manifest anything interesting. I also didn't feel like the new vocalist added all that much to the band...he's got a decent voice, and had some experience in another deep-underground Canadian band called Crypt (who put out an album of their own in '87), but it's clear he wasn't brought in to rock the boat and develop his own style, but to merely hold the lines that had already been drawn by Beehler previously.

In the end, this is probably the least enjoyable Exciter record as far as I'm concerned. It does have its moments, and not all the songs and melodies are throwaway, but I found it a fraction too fragile for what I would have liked, far more than even Unveiling the Wicked, and the lyrics are the among their weakest. I've got no real problem with some AOR hard rock or light metal of the late 80s, but the songwriting here never feels developed enough, the vocal lines shrieky and on pitch but never memorable in their note progressions. It's not the worst way to kill 40 minutes, and I don't think they've ever really released a 'bad' album, but it's all too easy to pass on when compared with any of the heavier, more charming work they've released, whether that be the early cult classics or the decent efforts since. Thankfully this was a rather short phase in the band's history.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10] (dressing to strange excess)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Unveiling the Wicked (1986)

In what seems a strange twist of irony, the first consecutive Exciter record to appear on the same label as its predecessor was also the first that resulted after a major line-up change. After the Feel the Knife EP was released, John Ricci had departed from the Canadians' roster and with it a pretty important chunk of what made this band sound as it did. To their credit, they snapped up a good replacement in one Brian McPhee, and did not deviate heavily from the style they had already established through Violence & Force and Long Live the Loud, but there were enough tweaks to the formula that it doesn't feel like a precise doppelganger of its steely siblings.

I understand that the band considers this the start of a more decidedly 'melodic' phase in their career, and certainly some of the songs hold to this. For example, "I Hate School Rules" and "Living Evil" are pretty stock hard rock/metal for the mid 80s that fans of bands like Twisted Sister and W.A.S.P. might enjoy, the one difference being Beehler's offsetting screams. Still a lot of NWOBHM to be heard in the structure of the chords, but there definitely seems a toning down of the roughshod intensity that the band had laid out over prior recordings. That's not to say that tracks of this sort are necessarily bad, I quite liked the pumping bass lines and the little guitar fills used in the latter, but I don't feel that they were contributing much to my dreams of robing myself in leather and brass knuckles and heading downtown to start a fight, something I consider tantamount to the success of an Exciter record.

Elsewhere, when the band picks up the pace and blazes along in the proper speed metal context, Unveiling the Wicked feels a lot stronger. McPhee was perhaps a more technically fluid guitarist, or perhaps 'flashy' would be the word, and he runs his lines all over cuts like "Shout It Out", "Live Fast, Die Young" or the diverse "Invasion/Waiting in the Dark". As I mentioned, I rather enjoyed the melodic fills he injects into the songwriting (like the verses of "Die In the Night"), it gives them an added dimension that Exciter was previously lacking, but often at the expense of the sheer force and tone. Of course, there are times when his prowess is displayed in less than desirable fashion, like the showy and unnecessary 90 second guitar solo instrumental "Brainstorm" that should have been omitted here and left to soundchecks at gigs...

He's also not helped by the tone of this record. The rhythm guitar has a really ruddy tone to it, but not as solid and punishing as the previous albums. Beehler sounds about the same, and his screaming really shines in the chorus of the opener "Break Down the Walls", one of the best on this whole album (alongside "Die In the Night"), and Alan Johnson's fat fingerings are still quite audible, but as a whole, Unveiling the Wicked just doesn't seem as straight in the face as Long Live the Loud. Drums seem more restrained, and the songs, though still often pretty fast and furious, might have been geared towards gaining a broader audience, a feat that was precluded by Dan's continued use of the grating, banshee pitch.

Ultimately, I believe that the 'essentials' of the Exciter legacy begin with Heavy Metal Maniac and end with Long Live the Loud, but this album was certainly passable for the time and I still think a few of the songs deserve the attention of anyone into melodic North American speed or power metal of the 80s. Some of the lyrics are pretty dumb, but then they were never among the 'laureates' of the form. Make no mistake, this is still pretty raw sounding speed metal, an aesthetic the band would change for the s/t follow-up in 1988 (with a new vocalist). But it's not quite so consistent as the three preceding albums and thus I can understand why some fans might not enjoy it at that level. I don't, either.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (I'm a sinner, that's right)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Feel the Knife EP (1985)

Feel the Knife is another of those short-form excesses of the 80s whose value is highly contingent on whether or not an individual meets a certain condition. In this case, if you own the versions of Long Live the Loud released in the year 2005 or beyond, then the EP is worthless. Dogshit. Grease. Vomit. Something you'd only seek out if you were a collector or completist. If you DO NOT own their third album, then this becomes more of a crap shoot. Certainly what the band has included here does not represent its best work, at far as the titular non album track, but neither is it anything to balk at, and the inclusion of two cuts recorded live in Ottawa (1984) gave many of us our first exposure to their stage capabilities.

"Feel the Knife" is more or less a song that feels as if it were recorded at the same time as those of Long Live the Loud, but for whatever reason, whether it was set aside for promotional and commercial purposes or just not good enough to overcome a sense of redundancy with its neighboring creations, it wound up here. Thick, pummeling speed metal with some competent if not memorable riffing and Dan Beehler's new focus on screaming out nearly all his lines. Like the full-length, Ricci's lead here shows a more seasoned burst of activity than the spurious passages strewn about Heavy Metal Maniac, but it also doesn't really distinguish itself beyond its blazing blues base and frenzied antipathy. In short: I don't really think this was worth basing an entire release around, and it might have served just as well on the intended full-length.

"Violence and Force" and "Pounding Metal", on the other hand, both being performed off the Violence & Force album, sound quite entertaining here, and I think I might even prefer Dan Beehler's vocals to their studio incarnations, as he seems far more sure of himself. Both were solid songs to begin with, and the levels here are quite strong, in particular the drums and guitar but the bass is also acceptably juicy. As a temptation to go see them live, it works rather well, and having seen them since (with later lineups) I can attest that they leave nothing to the imagination, simply rocking your face off like an industrial strength steel wool scrubber. That said, I will reiterate that tracking down the actual vinyl is best left to the hardcore collectors who I presume would either stare at it on their wall, pass it along or commit it a museum; for anyone else, who just wants to experience the material, it's a nice little bonus to Long Live the Loud but fails to really stand out on its own.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10] (just when you think you're safe)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Long Live the Loud (1985)

The fact that Long Live the Loud was released on Exciter's third label in as many years is a testament to the volatility of the industry during those important years of metal growth in the early through mid 80s. Granted, the Canadians seemed to be working their way ever upward, but never quite scoring that hit full-length that would pave the way for the ultimate opportunities that bands like Slayer, Metallica and Megadeth were snatching up alongside the more popular acts of the British invasion around the turn of the decade.

To my ears, though, Long Live the Loud has proven the most definitive of Exciter experiences, a puerile but focused rush of intensity that delivers the pure speed metal rush I so loved about bands of this period like Savage Grace, Razor, Lizzy Borden and so forth, with comparable high pitched vocals and testosterone to spare. It might lack some of the innocence of Heavy Metal Maniac or Violence & Force, and the band's enigmatic, switchblade wielding hesher mascot had been handed his walking papers in favor of a cheesy, Manowar-like fantasy misogyny (though the Feel No Knife EP offers a brief role reprisal) but musically this is the most fun I've ever had with one of their albums, and the first I'd recommend to anyone seeking them out for the first time, inching just past the sophomore.

Still a three-piece, with John Ricci, Alan Johnson and Dan Beehler returning, the most important change between this and Violence & Force is probably the vocal quality. Where Beehler had a previous tendency to shift between mid-ranged yelling and higher-pitched shrieks, the latter seem to have become the norm here, and he's become capable of sustaining that range for a longer period of time. He's still not got the mightiest pipes on the scene, falling below the high standards set by your Rob Halfords, Lizzy Bordens and such, and at times I feel as if they come off a little fragile or depthless when leveled against the powerful drums and guitars, or cater to the 'screaming at the top of my lungs' caricature many often apply to similar bands, but I found them far less distracting than the less than fine-tuned performance of the sophomore.

Musically, Long Live the Loud is well structured and just beats the shit out of you once the dust from the guitar driven intro "Fall Out" subsides. "Long Live the Loud" and "I Am the Beast" rip out some punk-fueled, classic speed circa Venom and Motörhead but with the added perks of the shrill, banshee-like wailing of Beehler and the strong support of the gang shouted backing vocals. The guitar tone is loud and grating, the impulsive velocity incessant, and the leads here burn with a spirit that surpasses the previous albums. In particular I love how they open "I Am the Beast" with just the guitar raging off and then the rhythm section bursting in while Dan goes absolutely insane. After that, "Victims of Sacrifice" and "Beyond the Gates of Doom" maintain the solid momentum of familiar but forceful riffing, stopping only for the eerie organ intro to the latter and some punishing drum breaks.

Having never gotten the chance to see this band during their early years (I was like 11 when this came out), I can only imagine what they might have been like with the original lineup on stage. Beehler is a monster on his kit. He might not be technically the most gifted drummer playing in the genre at the time, but the mix of the beats has a phenomenal balance of voluminous crashing and sheer bravado that reminds me of other scorchers like Lizzy Borden's Love Me to Pieces or Razor's Executioner's Song. What's even better, he never really lets up. The entire album is quite consistent in quality, and even the band's first attempt at a 'proper' epic (they had songs around 7 minutes before), "Wake Up Screaming" fills outs its 10 minutes of bulk with a mix of iron-wrought chords, bass grooves and bluesy, airy leads that howl off into the steaming city pavement of an urban summer night.

Some might lean towards Heavy Metal Maniac for setting Exciter's stylistic standard, but this album just reeks of confidence and ass kicking. It's not perfect: not every individual guitar progression stands out as insanely memorable, nor do the lyrics often avoid the old cliches that so many bands fell into, almost repeating one another. But it's not like these three gentlemen ever set up to write a symphony, just drag their influences into a louder and bolder new era of leather, spikes and sweat, and Long Live the Loud is another admirable contender for the short list of top speed/heavy metal exertions of 1985. I think that in the long term it might have been dwarfed by Razor's twin accomplishments Evil Invaders and Executioner's Song, the latter of which I think has catchier songwriting than this, but like it's two predecessors, this deserves a spot in the collection of any discriminating denim diehard.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10] (my music is loud)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Violence & Force (1984)

Is it a zombie trying to break down the door? A severe burn victim? Well, at least the switchblade, wristband and blood seem consistent with Exciter's debut Heavy Metal Maniac, even if any chance for a persistent mascot was about to be cast to the wind with the followup album. Violence & Force was my first brush with the Canadian speed metal savages, and it remains a personal favorites in their catalog, though it does suffer from at least one relatively frequent flaw that held it back from a broader notoriety, and continues to prevents it from completely scaling the walls towards the realm of masterpiece. That said, this is still a cult classic, worth the time of anyone who enjoys traditional, dirty North American metal, and like Exciter's first album, it never seems to depreciate with time.

The one obstacle that I've always had to hurdle with the sophomore is Dan Beehler's vocal performance, which at times comes off incredibly strained, cutting out in volume and serving as a detriment to the energetic assertion of the music. Now, Beehler's never exactly been a prima donna, and has always taken an honest, workmanlike approach to his bleating and screaming, but there are points throughout Violence & Force where he almost feels as if he's losing his voice. The shrill shrieks in the title track seem even more sustained and mighty than those of Heavy Metal Maniac, almost at Lizzy Borden or Savage Grace levels, and I quite like the grit of his throat as he howls through the verses, but often the lines seem a little too schizoid ("Scream in the Night") without any one pitch taking control, and some of the notes he hits (or doesn't hit) in tracks like "Destructor" or "Saxons of the Fire" seem rather painful. Hardly a deal breaker, after all he's still got quite a lot of character to his timbre that matches the grime of the street ready music, but even to one such as I who often values a corrosive imperfection in a speed, heavy or thrash metal front man, feels dodgy.

Otherwise, Violence & Force sounds great. The guitars have an airy, abusive nature to them which lays out the punk-influenced smack-down of the titular "Violence & Force" and "Swords of Darkness", caveman grooves of "Pounding Metal" (which ironically sounds similar to countrymen Anvil in their formative years) and mid-paced hard rocking abandon of "War is Hell", which almost feels like an unsung spiritual precursor to the Beastie Boys' "You Gotta Fight for a Right to Party" sans the rapping. The drums are mixed better here, more full bodied than they were on the debut, and Alan Johnson's bass lines are groovy and entertaining without deriding the far louder, metallic bludgeoning tone of the guitar. The solos too seem stronger, or rather, just as frivolous, but more determined to rip out against the pummeling undercurrent and manifest a sense of excitement as opposed to just filling up space. Like Heavy Metal Maniac before it, this never feels like innovative or technically impressive, just a heavier edge on a lot of the sounds one heard coming from England in the early 80s.

It's also a really well paced album with some variation. Surprising for a band which is so often branded with that tag of 'speed metal' that itself implies a sort of one speed or no speed characteristic. You've got your faster paced blitzes ala "Violence & Force", "Destructor" and "Saxons of the Fire" and then a slew of strong, memorable pieces like "Pounding Metal" which just lay into you with such primitive and unforgettable, molten hard rock riffing patterns that seem like an industrial grade KISS. There's also the sparkling trail of haunting acoustics that lead into the bluesy, Sabbath crush of "Delivering to the Master". It might be sacrosanct to think of anything Exciter has done as even hinging on 'ambitious', but I liked the plotting of the longer tunes here ("Delivering..." or the closer "War Is Hell") moreso than the previous album's ugly stepchild "Black Witch". In the end, Violence & Force marked a positive shift over to New York's Megaforce Records, expanded the Canadians' audience in both the States and Europe, and remains another timeless window into an epoch of innocent rebellion.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10] (fire bombs & smoke)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Heavy Metal Maniac (1983)

The sudden manifestation of a popular Exciter: The Story of Exciter documentary notwithstanding, Ontario's speed metal stalwarts are likely to go down in history as one of the longest surviving and little evolving acts in all the metallic canon to never quite get its due. They formed up in the late 70s, first as Hell Razor and later the Priest inspired Exciter, with an emphasis on the then-forward thinking sounds being popularized in both the English scene by Sabbath, Motörhead and the aforementioned Judas Priest, and riding the influence of North American hard rock circa KISS or Van Halen to a new level of aggression and 'excitement' well ahead of comparable Canadian legends like Anvil and Razor.

Thanks to an ironic yet important appearance on Shrapnel Records' seminal U.S. Metal Vol II LP, the band was able to sow its spikes and seeds into the minds of a broader fanbase here and overseas, and thus the full-length Heavy Metal Maniac was born, once more under the tasteful and sadly unsung Mike Varney and Shrapnel. More or less a re-skinning of their WWIII Heroes demo, it proved one of the more exciting North American speed/heavy metal albums in a year that produced Metallica's masterful Kill 'Em All, Manowar's Into Glory Ride, Anvil's Forged in Fire and Dokken's Breaking the Chains, but failed to catch on beyond the core audience for the style. Leather, studs, blood, knives and Marshall amplifiers were certainly eye catchers for the metal consumer of the day, but Exciter lacked the same level of sophistication that several of their peers were evoking, and perhaps their riffs and choruses didn't resonate quite so far...

But despite these setbacks, the debut insured the band's ability to perform and promote itself, and generated enough buzz within the industry that they secured further label support through Megaforce Records out of New York. Heavy Metal Maniac was not actually my first exposure to the band (I came into their sound through a cassette dub of Violence & Force), but in retrospect it's a fine album for its style and one that miraculously holds up nearly 30 years after its initial release. There's something genuine, dark, impulsive and testosterone fueled about this sort of record that seems to transcend time and age, perhaps not to the Arctic Monkeys crowd whose impression of 80s heavy metal is none other than the condescending hipster mockery that VH1's tragic popular video recycling and Metalocalypse taught them, but for those of us who were there and cared, or the newer generation of gateway trad metal fan that actually gives a damn.

Exciter was also cool in that they possessed one of those rare power trio configurations in which the drummer also doubled as the vocalist. Dan Beehler had a rabid, workmanlike, down to earth tone saturated with just the right amount of delay that cut out across the density of the guitar riffing. Never so refined or piercing as a Rob Halford or Joe Elliott, he generally hung about a mid range, but was still capable of a strident screech where it counted. In truth, I found his meter and delivery a bit similar to Bobby 'Blitz' Ellsworth' of Overkill on his earlier records like Feel the Fire and Taking Over, only not so violently wild, biting and infectious. That said, Beehler's kit skills were quite effective, whether laying into the slow Sabbath grooves of "Iron Dogs" or the more standard speed metal mid-pacing you'll encounter on most of the cuts like "Stand Up and Fight", "Under Attack" and "Cry of the Banshee". A bit tinnier in the mix than some might appreciate, but remember that this was essentially a demo tape and the Canadians were far from possessing an enormous studio budget.

Beehler is joined here by the other founding members, bassist Alan Johnson and guitarist John Ricci, the latter of whom many will recognize as the long standing spokesman and 'face' for the band, excepting Unveiling the Wicked (1986) and the s/t (1988) on which he had taken a brief departure from the lineup. Johnson approaches his lines with a festive, plum-picking thickness that he loads with grooves and fills. Sometimes he's doing his own thing, as heard in the intro piece "The Holocaust", but other times he's more or less creating a corpulent doppelganger to the rhythm guitar, especially in the faster riffs for tracks like "Mistress of Evil". As for Ricci, he's got a very obvious, weighted tone redolent of Black Sabbath, yet even more blue collar and raw, thriving on the a vivacious undercurrent of savagery rather than a miserable, gloomy din. One certainly hears a lot of punk in the chord constructions, a dash of Motörhead, but he's not afraid to implement brief, controlled dashes over higher strings, or a Van Halen-esque flange ("Heavy Metal Maniac") to create added depth.

The leads, on the other hand, seem entirely out of control, almost as if they were often improvised or squeezed in as an afterthought to various non-vocal sequences. For example, the solo in "Stand Up and Fight", while perfectly constrained to the bridge sequence, doesn't really stand out to my memory. But this was a symptom of much speed metal or thrash, used both to its detriment and success, and like everything else here, really goes with the times. Otherwise, Heavy Metal Maniac has a great pacing and structure. "The Holocaust" serves as a desolate, windy opener that cedes to the red rocket punch of "Stand Up and Fight", and for every few upbeat tracks they'll interject a slower piece like the potent "Iron Dogs" or the power ballad "Black Witch" so the listener doesn't ever feel like he's being clubbed in the face by the same tempo repeatedly.

There are unquestionably a few points here where the riffs seem a bit derivative of their more obvious influences. For instance, the pre-chorus chords in "Heavy Metal Maniac" feel like a ramped up "Detroit Rock City", and a few progressions seem as if they were paraphrased from various Sabbath and Priest predecessors, even if the same could be said of nearly anyone. Yet as the band themselves hint in one of the sweet 1982 audio interviews included with the 2005 Megaforce reissue, they were never bent on reinventing the wheel so much as regreasing it and dialing up the volume while they ran over the crowd. The only song here I can honestly say I don't enjoy to some degree is "Black Witch", primarily because Beehler's delivery of several of the lyrics is goofier than usual, and even where it picks up to a Sabbath like slower heaviness the guitars are admittedly boring. But everything else works damned well, including the bonus tracks "World War III" (from their U.S. Metal II appearance) and "Evil Sinner" with its gleaming intro harmonics and some impressive, sustained screaming via Dan Beehler.

Ultimately, Heavy Metal Maniac is not offering Kill 'Em All or Piece of Mind levels of quality and craftsmanship, nor is it even the best of Exciter's backlog, but it's a good example of its class that, to the proper ears, will sound just as refreshing as as it did in the mid-80s. To some extent, I feel that this band has never really attempted to tax itself aesthetically. They're quite content with their chosen sound and through their ten full-length albums (to date), have offered us only slight variations that generally coincide with the various lineup changes. But it's not as if we were short on innovators in this or any spectrum, and something can be said for the consistency of vision these Canadians cling to. Whether for a single night of passionate, headbanging release, or a completely leather-bound lifestyle, there's always going to be a time and place to experience music like this: and when you are ready, so too is Heavy Metal Maniac, waiting to embrace you with amplified enthusiasm.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (stand back)

http://listen.to/exciter

Exciter - Death Machine (2010)

I feel like the problem for a legendary band like Exciter is that they already forged such a concrete proof of concept in their early output that there is almost no impetus to listen to any of their catalog post- Unveiling the Wicked (1986). Along with early Razor, they were the gods of rugged Canadian speed metal, known for their wild, bullshit free live sets and ripping, screeching vocals over John Ricci's non stop traditional speed/power riffs. So yeah, give me Heavy Metal Maniac, Violence & Force or Long Live the Loud any day, crank it up and watch my frown turn upside down, but I've simply not felt in the least bit compelled by almost anything the band created in the 90s or beyond.

However, the band still needs to put some food on the table, and their van on the map as it launches the speed metal assault on any shore, so they grace us with new albums from time to time. Death Machine is the second effort with Kenny 'Metal Mouth' Winter on vocals, and he's unfortunately the one interesting aspect of this record. He's a little more snarling and wicked sounding than his predecessors Beehler or Belanger, almost as if an Udo Dirkschneider had signed up for duties here, and he's thoroughly entertaining. As for the music, it's the standard variety of familiar sounding, incessant guitars, ranging from fast ("Demented Prisoners") to really fast ("Razor In Your Back"), with only a few stops for breath (fist pumper "Power and Domination" being an example), and Winter shifting back and forth between his sneers and jeers and beautiful, high pitched screams. Ricci's leads are frivolous but tight, the rhythm section of Cohen and Charron compact and level enough to burn these mothers home.

But this is Exciter. You're not here for rocket science and innovation, you're just here to have molten metal poured in your ears for a half hour or so until you move to the next aspect of your life. To that extent, Death Machine is surely not a bad album. It doesn't stop for directions and it doesn't take an excess amount of time pissing around the roadside bathrooms. Ricci definitely has more mediocre material than this under his belt, but there's not a lot here that I feel an urge to revisit. None of the chorus parts seem legendary, despite Winter's enthusiasm, and the guitars are just functional enough to blow speakers and secure blowjobs after the fact. The production is nice and thick, but retains some of the raw frenzy of the band's yester years. This is one for the speed metal fans, and the speed metal fans only, and it seems Exciter has become all too comfortable in this niche. It wouldn't hurt them to write some catchier music, but then, it's not as if this is a bad album, just sadly average, like the last half dozen.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://listen.to/exciter