Monday, March 8, 2010

Initial Impressions: Exciter: Heavy Metal Maniac

Canada apparently had a great metal scene in the 1980's. Exciter, Anvil, and Razor were all playing fast thrash/speed metal. Meanwhile, Slaughter, Sacrifice, and Voivod were playing on the heavier end of the thrash spectrum. It's too bad many of those bands were not as well-known south of the border.

Exciter plays speed metal influenced by the NWOBHM, Judas Priest, and early thrash metal acts. It's very fast and also aggressive. The album starts out slowly with the opening track and sounds of an oncoming storm. Then it kicks into gear and does not slow down until it's over. The riffs are impressive, but they could stand to be higher in the mix.

The vocals are a little bit of a weak point. Perhaps the problem lies more in the production values of the album though, as the vocals are certainly not bad. They just kind of echo which gets a little annoying after awhile. Like I said, this is probably more due to the production than the actual vocals.

This album is just another example of some great Canadian metal that went largely unnoticed in the U.S. It's unfortunate, but with the internet, all of this stuff that was only heard regionally can now make its way to the masses.

One last thing though: there are three interview tracks on this album at the end as bonus. That's awful. It's one thing to have bonus tracks, it's quite another to have them be separate interviews.

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