New Testament

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.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

There's a lot of excellent material on "New Testament." It's always a guilty pleasure to listen to Jacques Belanger's over the top vocals played against some of the most ridiculous speed metal beats in history. "New Testament" functions as a greatest hits album, even if it's hard to call anything they recorded a "hit." But there are many fan favorites, if that qualifies. The album starts with "Rising of the Dead" and goes straight to "Violence and Force," establishing the exchange of shouted titles and vibrato-laden vocals that are Exciter's trademarks. "Rain of Terror" and "Pounding Metal" have both been long time favorites of mine and the latter shows that Exciter can kick some asses without the speed. That being said, all the thrashed out speed on the album is awesome and never gets tiring, mostly because the songs are very good and the guitar distortion sound is too huge to ignore. Many a younger band could take a note as to how to sound heavy. This is it. The album highlight for me is "Heavy Metal Maniac," one of the great metal anthems of all time. Sure it's stupid. But it epitomizes Exciter, fast awesome and hilarious. You gotta love it. Exciter aren't exactly poets when it comes to the lyrical side of their songs, but it's hard to imagine anything else being sung. A great example of how this works is in "pounding Metal" with one of my favorite lines "Heads slamming, brains bashing, it's Over The Top you don't care." I think it speaks for itself.

Additionally, the production on "New Testament" will be a nice surprise for long time fans who have followed Exciter since the early 80's. Almost every song is an improvement over the original in terms of recording quality. Let's face it, the original "Heavy Metal Maniac" wasn't exactly overproduced. Every one of these classic songs has actually been completely rerecorded with John Ricci playing guitar on everything, even on the tracks that recreate songs he wasn't around for the first time, but that's a good thing. His style of agression over all else works great on all of Exciter's material. The only thing that keeps this album from being great is that they could have left out a couple of the weaker songs, although there aren't many of those and you might just be glad to have over an hour's worth of Exciter on one disc. This was probably a long time coming, so let's appreciate it.

Well, this is difficult. On the one hand, Exciter never had the luck of a proper production very often. It gives me great pleasures to listen to their old classics from their first 3 records in re-recorded sound-quality. Especially the guitar now shreds. First song "Rising Of the Dead" sounds even better with the changed vocalline in the chorus. Worth mentioning: "Stand Up And Fight" and "Victims Of Sacrifice". Exception: "Blackwitch". Didn't like that track in the past, don't like it today.
Also the "Kill After Kill" tck "Rain Of Terror" finally gots a superb production and it makes me sad to realise, how totally underproduced this particular album was.

On the other hand, I don't see any reason why re-recording songs from "The Dark Command". This was the Exciter album with the best sound so far, and why the hell re-recording songs from this album, especially if they got weaker comparing them to the 1997-versions ????

Mixed feelings here to give a final result. The positive aspects overwhelm slightly. This classic John Ricci-guitar sound finally really catched on CD the first time on all these all-time classics from the early 80es is a great experience. But some songs should have been removed or not re-recorded for this. And blame Osmose Prod. for the missing vinyl-version of this CD.

It’s time to get Excited. Excited about Exciter. The old school brigade who are now pushing their mid thirties know exactly what I’m talking about when we talk about Exciter. Exciter is of course the classic Canadian speed metal act who released their definitive debut of 1983 entitled ‘Heavy Metal Maniac’. Back then Exciter was exciting. Most of us picked that up when it was released.

In 2004, Exciter is not quite as exciting, but nevertheless they are still together (albeit after a lengthy hiatus from the scene) – 1997’s ‘Dark Command’ and 2000’s ‘Blood of Tyrants’ continued their trademark old school speed/thrash metal sound. Vocalist problems have plagued the band since then, with Jacques Belanger leaving after the BOT album, only to be replaced by Rob Degroot. Unfortunately Degroot wasn’t as excited as Exciter were about Exciter’s signature style, so he opted out of the line up. So some 18 months after quitting the band Jacques Belanger is welcomed back into the fold. Presumably, he had become re-excited by the prospect of fronting Exciter. How could he not be excited?

But enough of the lame Exciter word play. The reason Belanger has returned is not only to help write new tracks for a forthcoming album, but also to be involved in the re-recording of some of the bands classic moments for what has now become the disc we are talking about – ‘New Testament’. Belanger rounds out the line up that guitarist John Ricci and drummer Rik Charron. Ricci also plays bass on the re-recordings for this new album.

‘New Testament’ features re-recordings of 10 of the bands signature tracks spanning the albums released from 1983-1992 and also 5 tracks from their last two studio efforts that were noted earlier. For the record NT includes: Stand Up And Fight; Heavy Metal Maniac; Rising Of The Dead and Blackwitch (all from the debut album Heavy Metal Maniac-1983); Violence and Force and Pounding Metal (from Violence And Force-1984); Long Live The Loud; Victims Of Sacrifice and I Am The Beast (from Long Live The Loud-1985) and Rain Of Terror (from Kill After Kill-1992). The other recent tracks include - The Dark Command; Aggressor; Ritual Death (from The Dark Command-1997) and Rule With An Iron Fist; Brutal Warning (from Blood Of Tyrants-2000).

And how do they compare? Well, as a fan who laid his hands on ‘Heavy Metal Maniac’ via a taped recording from another mates recorded tape who taped it from the original Vinyl, the classic tracks on here sound waaay better. However, I have had discussions with some metal colleagues who know HHM just a tad better than I do and they would say that the originals have that ‘irreplaceable atmosphere’ of the time that just can’t be recaptured. It’s a justifiable point, however I’m sure the band would tell you that these tracks have been given a new freshness aided by today’s technological advances and better recording techniques.

Who’s going to buy this album? Well, Exciter play classic 80’s old school speed metal with screaming high pitched Halford like vocals. If you like that, then this will melt your brain. If you were still in nappies when Exciter unleashed their classic debut, then ‘New Testament’ is a damn good introduction to a band that was on the verge of metal domination, but unfortunately couldn’t quite deliver with the follow up releases. Other than that and its novelty/nostalgia value for ageing metal heads there is actually no real purpose to this album at all. Still, that’s no reason not to get excited. Bottom line: It’s METAL to the fucking BONE!! Get Excited! Get Exciter!

Shame on me! For what you might ask? Well, for not having kept up with Exciter. I had heard some of their material back in the day, at that point in my life I had written them off as "just another metal band." I was blinded by the glam rock era of the 80's. Well, we all know what happened to that, right? And Exciter has kept rollin' now a quarter century into their career, they elected to re-record 15 of their biggest slabs of molten metal! Probably as a way to reintroduce themselves to the fans of the past & also to school the newbies. And boy did they school me. For an indie release the production is top notch, you get the in your face bottom end bass & the jack hammering drums & surgically precise guitar riffs. Jacques Belanger has got it covered in the vocal department, there's nothing but Heavy Metal in the voice piercing through the speakers. Exciter continues to be a no frills metal band, they could have easily leaned more towards the glam or the commercial end of things & gotten success in the States, much like their Cunuck counterparts Helix achieved. Exciter chose to do things their way, by not compromising their sound & selling themselves short. Which makes this collection of underground classics, that much more valuable to their legacy. I couldn't tell you which track is my favorite off this record. They are all classics, they are all metal & they will all clean your clock clean! I have been listening to this disc for the last week & a half & can say this, I will be revisiting their previous efforts & will anxiously await their next studio record. When a band takes it's name from a Judas Priest track... How metal is that?