Thrash, Speed, Burn

Exciter are among those bands (like Flotsam And Jetsam to name just the best known example) which have to battle with their own glorious past. Their curvy development is a good example for a lot of other more or less extreme metal groups. At the beginning of their career they released spectacular thrash / speed albums (from "Heavy Metal Maniac" till "Long Live the Loud") before they or their management unnecessarily decided to change direction in order to achieve greater commercial success. After this change had proved to be false, the band tried to restart while reanimating their early metal style. Unfortunately, the Canadians had to learn painfully that it is impossible to make a trip into the past - quite apart from countless line-up changes. They returned to the mixture of thrash and speed, but what looked alike turned out not to be the same.

This applies in particular if, as in the present case, the rumbling production fails to perform its duty. I don´t want to speak of an undefined sound mush, nevertheless, the album sounds like a low budget work and the songs can´t develop their full striking force. I can´t understand how this could happen, because I thought that all band members are professionals who are highly aware of the importance of a powerful sound. The cover is a flop, too. Not just because it strongly reminds one of the back cover of Krokus´ "Headhunter", but also because it looks cheap and done lovelessly without having any apparent relation to the title of the album.

Fortunately, the music speaks for itself without taking account of these circumstances. Exciter unleash a formidable headbanging mania right from the beginning of the opener. The new vocalist Kenny Winter does not sound too shrill and he manages the deep tones, too. Nevertheless, he does not have this special charisma that Beehler had in the early days. The rest of the team fulfills its duty, which is not a huge challenge due to the simple song structures that avoid tempo changes and complicated rhythms. This does not mean that the songs are boring in any way. To put it in positive terms, they get straight to the point and are clearly structured. Successful examples of this are killer tracks like the title cut or the even more prominent "Demon´s Gate". Admittedly, it is certainly no coincidence that I highlight this very dynamic song, because its aggressive riffing reminds me of the fantastic title cut of "Violence & Force" in the most pleasant way. Moreover, it seems to me that these songs are twins and Exciter just kept "Demon´s Gate" hidden for more than 20 years. I regret the fact that not all of the songs share the rapid pace of this tune, but however, the fast "Massacre Mountain" constitutes a good choice for a representative opener, also with regard to its simple chorus that is effectively supported with backing vocals. The slow or mid-paced songs, for example "Evil Omen", interrupt the speed inferno without any loss in quality, while the lyrics of all pieces deal with the usual topics. Everybody knows what to expect after reading the song titles, so that there is no reason for a deeper analysis.

It would be an exaggeration to speak of a late masterpiece, but Exciter deliver a coherent album with powerful songs that would have doubtlessly deserved a better production. Nevertheless, it is just good to know that John Ricci still remains true to himself. But it is a pity for a sentimental guy like me that neither Dan Beehler nor Allan Johnson were involved in this tradition-conscious output.

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.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

While perhaps not the most renowned name in thrash metal, Exciter is definitely one of the older ones, and definitely among the more primitive. It tends more towards the repetitive, limited character of speed metal, which while definitely more aggressive and even less pristine, shares a commonly formulaic character with early USPM. It is important to treat this band more as an institution than a standard band given all of the constant lineup shifts, thus in spite of largely maintaining an orthodox sound, there are variations in quality based on who is present.

In terms of the band’s history, “Thrash, Speed, Burn” is a pretty solid album, maintaining the essential character of their sound. Vocal newcomer Kenny Winter (aka Metal Mouth) is pretty much the chief draw here, definitely mastering that gravely yet high as a siren scream that perfectly melds the character of Rob Halford with Blitz Ellsworth. He’s not quite as competent as Jacques Belanger, but he is definitely no slouch and does a solid job of complementing a very basic sound format with some solid upper range gymnastics, not to mention that his approach meshes well with what is a fairly low-fi production given all of the modern conveniences that were likely shunned in the name of creating an organic sound.

Arguably, the real dilemma this album suffers from is the production, though nice and raw, reminiscent somewhat of early mid 80s thrash releases like “Haunting The Chapel” and “Feel The Fire”, is that the blurring riffs and double bass work gets muddled. Coupled with a wild and somewhat sloppy guitar soloing style that rests somewhere between K.K. Downing and Kerry King, otherwise killer songs like “Massacre Mountain” and “Betrayal” start to get a little mushy and are really only held together by Winter’s rhythmic vocal assault. Things are a little bit more solid when things revert to an early speed metal sound ala Motorhead in “The Punisher” and “Demon’s Gate”. And likewise, the slower rendition of Overkill’s brand of doom-like slowness in “Crucifixion”.

For the prospective thrash addict, this is more of a par for the course venture than something that absolutely needs to be had at the cost of selling your family off into slavery. There’s nothing bad, but this is the sort of thing that was done better and with far more intensity by Sodom back in the late 80s. But to give the band their due, they were one of the few outfits from 80s that didn’t either utterly fall apart (Dark Angel) or morph into some half-assed groove band (just about everyone else), and that definitely counts for something.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-archives.com) on January 30, 2011.

I've never actually listened to an Exciter album before so this album left me in a precarious position; when you have to review a new album by a long running band the usual procedure is to compare their latest release to their earlier/better releases and then whine on for about three paragraphs telling the reader how much you think they're a bunch of cockwalruses for not sticking to their guns instead of trying to do whatever it is they ended up doing. This effectively leaves me in the unique position of giving an unbiased view on the revival of a metal band from the wintry north, hauling its permafrost carcass from the deepest reaches of the wasteland tundra and putting in the microwave on sensor reheat.

Despite this rare occasion to actually fairly judge an album without lambasting the offending band for their past, this album is exceptionally average at best and a benzoate-induced coma at worst. The album goes through the speed metal motions, but thanks to a combination of poor production and inept song writing nothing jumps out at you, this album was boring enough at one point that I wilfully decided to clean up my dorm room and finally look at my university timetable. The production is the first strike against this album; the double bass drums sound like someone masturbating at an awkward rhythm, the guitars sound thin instead of mimicing a 'laser bullet' however the bass is audible for once but doesn't lead revolutions or anything. "Crucifixion" is where the album loses any momentum it previously had, it's endearing to see Exciter trying to mix up the album by having a slower song but it's done with a severe lack of grace; the opening minute is unbearably slow and unremarkable before the song crunches in and keeps this glacial pace going for the entirety of the song. Exciter you are not a fucking drone band, slow songs need something to work towards as a means to keep attention; slowing down a speed metal riff is the equivalent to dousing a deliciously tender and succulent pork chop in giraffe ejaculate. The second half of the album picks up again but doesn't really deviate from the style of the first three songs and becomes horrendously boring. I've tried numerous times to listen to the last half of this album but it all blends together into a smooth, homogenous mixture devoid of any discernible personality.

I suppose one could be content with Exciter being highly consistent on this release, barring "Crucifixion", but thanks to the horrendous production this album becomes frustratingly difficult to enjoy or even listen to for that matter. The album is mean and fast, and doesn't divulge in wanking around with pop-ish sensibilities or effeminate balladry; the album is acceptable for a song or two but the monotony sets in with great haste and ruins what could have been an intriguing comeback album.