EXCITER: Heavy Metal Maniac review

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:19 pm

Well at the request of Lukelord I thought I would sit down and try to sum up my feelings on one of the great early 80's metal pioneers. Well pioneers of speed metal. There are so many to discuss. MotorHead,Maiden,Priest to name a few. But for three gentlemen from Canada John Ricci,Dan Beehler and Allan Johnson( who formed in 78 the same year Judas Priest had a song called Exciter,although their name was HellRazor at the time) the metal could not be fast enough or heavy enough for their time.

Let's move forward with Heavy Metal Maniac: After their demo,which was released in 1980,was sent to Mike Varney of the famed Shrapnel Records they were signed with Shrapnel and released HMM in 1983.

The production,although muddy and underproduced has an intense energy that cannot be matched,or can stand up against any other contemporaries in the genre at the time. Beginning with the Holcaust and moving right into Stand Up and Fight,Exciter would take no prisoners and it was to show what was in store for the listener throughout the rest of the disc. This is a furious track leading yet into another speeder. The self titled track! HHM!

Beehler as it should be mentioned was the singer as well as the drummer,and what a great job at holding down both positions. Although his singing style was more scatting and on a speaking term,it sounded direct,heart felt,intense as if he is giving the listener some sort of lecture on the world of Heavy Metal. And the screams? No problemo! Screams are LOUD and LONG! Dan Beehler's vocal style will not dissapoint either fan of lower vocals or high vocals. This is a medium that is unmatched.

The next track Iron Dogs is a bit more atmospheric where Mistress of Evil leaves you breathless and wanting more.

Now on to the next track which would be side 2 for all you vinyl buffs. Under ATTACK! Great title heh? This is how the listener feels. Threatened and Under Attack. Oh the damage that Metal,,Good Metal..can do for the soul. Good damage I might add. And for double bass drum fanatics..this has it. Maybe not as speedy and computerized sounding of today's Dimmu's and such..but real honest hard pounding foot work!

Next track Rising of the Dead is very Venomish and is almost equivalent to Venom's own Raise The Dead in it's rythymic approach.

And what can I say about the final two tracks. Blackwitch and Cry of the Banshee. Do I detect more screams from said Banshee? Yes! There they are haunting us and tormenting us once again.

The re-release of the CD has a couple bonus tracks.

World War III which was the track from their 9 song, 1980 demo submitted to Mr. Varney and was chosen to be on Shrapnels compilation disc, U.S. Metal Vol.II

Evil Sinner (which was originally on their second release,Violence and Force" but we can discuss that at a later time if we like), and I must say that this is where I was a bit disappointed. This original track of Evil Sinner sounds good on disc, YET, it sounds as if it was taken from a vinyl copy. Upon closer listening I could swear I heard pops in the distance. It's not so bad but they did eliminate this track off the re-release of VAF! Why? I do not know! Time? I do not know!

All I know is that it is one of my all time favorite Exciter tracks and I wished they would have left it on the second coming from these kick ass metal heads from Canada. Either way it's still there. It's availiable on disc at a decent price and this does not effect the rest of the tracks at all.

So everyone is a Winner with Evil Sinner. errrrr.... OK! Let's press on!

To wrap things up we have interviews. That's right! Boring to some! Cool to others! Tracks like these are usually hit or miss but these have a cool insight into a time and a place that was very EXCITing!

Beehler at one point mentions that Ricci is Old or Older and describes Judas Priest as an Old band that is well respected by Exciter.

But 1983 and Priest was considered an old band at that time by Beehler? Now I feel old. Priest only 8-9 years in. But EXCITER were the new kids and wnated their peers to take notice as they were Excited. As they should be.

They have influenced many in and out of the NWOBHM,Metallica,Raven,Accept and the list continues and with their current line up they continue to generate yet another generation of HEAVY METAL MANIACS!

METALPRIEST 04-14-16

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:59 pm

Thats one cool review!! Is the dude in the Middle Stone Cold Steve Austin or what?

Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:10 pm

LukeLord wrote:

Thats one cool review!! Is the dude in the Middle Stone Cold Steve Austin or what?

Yeah right? OHHH Man! I just noticed that we could submit reviews to the Admin for the CD review section!! MY FAULT!!!

Damn. I was just comin' back here to delete this but I guess it was good practice. Sorry for not noticing sooner! Yeah I submitted this to the CD review section for..well...review!

Next time I'll know where to go. I just noticed it. When I came back here to delete you already replied. Well I hope it will make for some good discussion. Glad you enjoyed it.