Blood of Tyrants

"Blood of Tyrants" was the second (and last) regular album of the Canadian speed metal pioneers with lead vocalist Jacques Belanger. With a view to his strong performance on "The Dark Command", this was a pity. This was furthermore due to the fact that he also made a mighty delivery on the here presented album. But the whole band carried on exactly there where their last full-length had stopped. Exciter delivered once again a harsh and pure speed / thrash metal attack without looking left or right. And that is (almost) all there is to say about "Blood of Tyrants" which appeared as the younger brother of its predecessor.

With regard to the musical continuity of the band, it came as no surprise that the line-up remained unchanged since the release of "The Dark Command". Mastermind John Ricci had written new riffs that built the stable foundation of the belligerent tracks. As usual, these riffs did not shine with exceptional complexity. Nevertheless, they worked. This was noteworthy because the producer was obviously of the opinion that the importance of a powerful guitar sound is overvalued. In any case, the guitars lacked of pressure up to a certain degree. But let me come back to the riffs. Just one thing annoyed me. It was more than embarrassing that the first and the seventh track offered exactly the same riff at the beginning. Why didn´t the band recognize this duplicitiy? But apart from that, the guitar work was in close proximity to that of "Violence & Force". Slightly more progressive tracks such as "Blackwitch" from their debut or "Born to Die" from the masterpiece "Long Live the Loud" did not play a significant role. The instrumental ("War Cry") with its elegiac approach was probably meant to loosen up the speed assault. Unfortunately, due to its leisurely pace and the missing screams of Belanger, it rather seemed to be some kind of foreign body.

It was more fun to listen to the simple and straightforward up-tempo tracks. Although the songwriting did not offer any signs of refinement, Exciter showed up with some stirring samples of their art. "Rule with an Iron Fist", for instance, distinguished itself through its continuous intensity and the incredible shrieks of Belanger during the bridge. The final piece called "Violator" achieved the same level of heaviness, energy and vehemence. More generally, the choruses did not lack of catchiness, not at least because of the accurate background vocals. The compactness of the songs remained remarkably consistent and the rigorous adherence to the no-frills songwriting concept constituted an other outstanding feature of the album. Its weakest spot was the imbecile cover. Low budget or no budget? However, no correlation was recognisable between the title of the full-length and its "artwork". So what? Exciter had created a strong album and they stayed true to themselves. In those circumstances, the remaining heavy metal maniacs had no reason to grumble. - Epilogue: as you have surely noticed, the original band members Beehler, Johnson and Ricci have decided to reunite after almost thirty years. I hope that they do not release a new studio album for the sake of itself. It should be at least able to reach the quality level of the here presented output. Good luck, guys, long live the loud!

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.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Exciter represents something of a road not taken for the thrash metal scene, opting not to move far beyond the paradigm that was laid out by Motorhead and a number of faster, nastier NWOBHM bands that followed soon after in the very early 80s. In short, they took the same influences that Metallica did during their formative demos up until “Kill Em’ All” and basically decided not to go any further down the rabbit hole of genre development that eventually paved the way for the Bay Area explosion in the mid 80s and the parallel New York scene, let alone the extreme style brought forth in Germany and a few select American bands that paved the way for death metal. This is generally why the band has scarcely released an album that didn’t sound like it was written between 1983 and 1985.

To put it plainly, “Blood Of Tyrants” is a 35 minute trek down memory lane that expresses not only an avoidance of present practices, but an outright rebellion against it. The production is notably louder and meaner than their 80s material, however, the balance and general sense of disunity amongst the parts that make up the whole is pretty blatant. The guitars are punchy, but notably crunchier than anything else in the arrangement, the drums are fairly top heavy with a pervasive cymbal sound, and the bass work is fairly fancy but also provides the only element of smoothness in a very rough sounding endeavor. But the real clasher is vocalist Jacques Bélanger melodramatic mixture of banshee screeches and dirty mid-ranged growls, which come off as both wicked yet a tad bit overdone, almost like a mixture of Blitz Ellsworth, Rob Halford, and a tiny bit of Marcel Schmier that can’t quite make its mind up.

Like most albums carrying the speed metal label, variety is not really a primary goal of this album, in fact I’d almost go out on a limb and argue that this album was rewritten in a somewhat less potent form 8 years later and renamed “Thrash Speed Burn”. But where this album tends to hold an advantage over the present incarnation of the band is that Bélanger’s over-the-top vocal work actually keeps things fairly interesting. Cruising odes to the Motorhead school of trailblazing in “Rule With An Iron Fist”, “Intruders” and “Brutal Warning” sound a bit less archaic and rock tinged for the multifaceted vocal ravings and occasional gang shouts going on, and John Ricci’s (while somewhat derivative of Motorhead’s formula) actually manages to be a bit more technical and fancy. The only real outlier on here is “War Cry”, which is notably slower almost to the point of a doom-like trot, but is still notably raucous and chaotic. Thrash metal bands often have a token ballad for slowing things down, Exciter however seems to be keener on opting for having the drums take it slow while the rest still continue to cook at full volume.

A steady diet of this form of metal might be a difficult prospect for someone who is used to more complex fare, but in occasional doses Exciter is a very consistent band for anyone who liked Overkill before “Under The Influence” or Slayer before “Haunting The Chapel”. It’s an obvious throwback that will probably appeal more to old school fans who heard this band back during the “Heavy Metal Maniac” days, but there might be some room for the thrash revivalist youths who have an appreciation for the sub-genre that both preceded and ran parallel to their present passion. Not quite an essential album considering the band’s auspicious past as early purveyors of a more dangerous version of heavy metal than the original, but a good offering from a very consistent outfit.

I liked The Dark Command very much also for the essential but quite clean production but here is totally different…it’s more chaotic and raw. I don’t know why they changed, probably because they want to “live the 80s again” in the sounds but I didn’t like it. With a studio full of options about the recording process I’d rather wanted a sound like in the previous album because this one doesn’t give enough power to the instruments, especially to the rhythmic session.

The vocals are always great but too loud compared to the instruments. The speed is always high as fuck and tracks like the opener “Metal Crusader” and “Rule With An Iron Fist” surely deserve attention. The chorus are great as the powerful verses. I can only imagine these songs with a better production.

The think that really bothers me in the production is the constant scratchy sound with similar whistles like in a concert with quite bad sounds. And then, if the speed metal should be catchy on the guitars lines and vocals, here the main melodic work is by Belanger only because for example a song like “Intruder” could have been fantastic with the right sounds.

“Martial Law” is the most violent here with almost shriek/growl refrain! Pure speed! The following tracks are always brutal as fuck, except for the more melodic, instrumental “War Cry”. The fast “Brutal Warning” and “Weapons Of Mass Destruction” are boombastic. All in all, a good album with some excellent songs…the production is the only weak point.

The last thing metal needs is disposable bands releasing records with songs that sound like they would have been outdated in 1983. Sure, the sound is more "modern" speed metal but the whole affair is so hilariously out of touch with anything even resembling art (or real fun) that I can't take this seriously. At first I thought this band had it's tongue firmly in it's cheek, which would have been perfectly acceptable as humor is appreciated in metal. Sadly...the tongue was firmly planted on the stove where it got burned and made me cringe like a motherfucker.

With lyrics like "Metal Crusaders", "Intruders", "Predator". "Martial Law" and "Violator" you can only hope that the band isn't taking themselves anyhow seriously with this release. Sadly, one gets the impression that these guys are "real metal warriors" that just lack the over-the-top charm of Manowar. The music aside from the lyrics is fast, but hardly catchy or memorable...you won't be spinning this next to "Painkiller" ten years down the road. I can't get into this one bit...it's "good enough" to show that they can play...but compared to their own "Violence and Force" it's a joke. They seem like nice enough guys, so I feel badly giving them such a harsh review...but coming off the silly-yet-likeable "The Last Command" this just baffles me with it's pointlessness.

Oh yeah...great band photos. Someone tell the bass player it's not polite (and highly cheesy) to point at the poor bloke who purchased his CD.

This is a joke right?

Please...someone confirm these facts for me.

This album kicks major ass!!! It's solid all the way through, and the songwriting level has been brought up several notches over previous efforts - it's almost as good as their classic debut album "Heavy Metal Maniac"!

We start with "Metal Crusaders" - Jacques Belanger nails some shrieks, as is his habit, and the main riff is pretty damn catchy. Then, "Rule with an Iron Fist", a total classic when played live, and the studio version is pretty nice too. "Intruders" and "Predator" are a bit more average, and then we have MARTIAL LAW!!! Nice fucking song, nice fucking screams - total headbanging mayhem to be found here.

"War Cry" is an intro to the next song... "Brutal Warning"!!! This has to be the best song on here. Some insane shrieks, and just in general a well-written song. Good verse riff, good chorus riffs, nice fucking solo. "Weapons of Mass Destruction" is also pretty nice, as is the title track, and the last song, "Violator".

Overall - this is the album Exciter hadn't made in over 16 years. Definitely fucking worth getting!!