Kill or Be Killed

Exciter was a very, very important band for the development of the speed metal scene and you can clearly hear it on this Blessed Death debut album, Kill or Be Killed. Basically, the style is the same, especially during the faster parts with a quite raw but pounding production. To be frank, here the sounds are less fuzzy than the ones by very early Exciter. By the way, mostly everything is taken from the Canadian masters of speed, from the riffs to the vocals. “Melt Down” is the very first example of this, showing energetic riffage and a fast drumming. The middle section is definitely calmer and the vocals sustain a darker atmosphere to restart on speed. So far, nothing spectacular but surely worth a listen for those who love up tempo and fast bass drums parts.

The guitars solos are a good blend of different styles and the two axe men have a different style to give a bit of variation. Essentially, one is rawer in style with the tremolo picking, while the other one use more tapping parts. Going on, we can even find early Metallica influences on some calmer parts of “Pig Slaughter”. The refrain features incredibly high pitched vocals while the drums are a bit too low to privilege the dry but energetic riffage. Despite its long length, “Omen of Fate” features also a lot of fast up tempo parts while the riffs are a way between the dark palm muting and the more melodic single chord picking. Once again the vocals go very high in tonality but that echoing sound on the verses is quite annoying even if it can give a darker touch.

The Black Sabbath influences come out during the beginning to “Into the Ovens” and its mid-paced progression. The inspiration is fading here and everything is normal but at times irritating too. There’s no intensity and the vocals are way too screamed and in contraposition to that slow progression. The fast restart is quite decent but nothing particular and the riffs sound quite anonymous. Once again the Exciter influences are massive and they come principally from Violence and Force album. “Knights of Old Bridge” is childish in its intention to be dark and a bit epic. The riffs are bland and really irritating. There is a crescendo of tempo and surely the fast parts are better but not original or too that nasty anymore.

To the insipid speed of “Eternal War” we can find the opposition of the dark notes of the long “Blessed Death” that features quite good arpeggios and a decent lead guitars work. The atmosphere is far more obscure and this is perfect while this time the vocals are calmer and a bit more adapt to this variation of tempo and atmosphere. Anyway, soon the heavy distortion of the instruments return and the tempo starts to increase in some sections. However, the general idea is to keep this track more focused on the gloominess than on the sheer attack. “Napalm” is weird of the guitars riffs and the martial tempo. When the tempo turns to be faster it’s better but once again it’s total Exciter style.

The last song, “Kill or Be Killed”, is a quite long semi mid-paced one with some furious restarts and chaotic solos. The refrain is well-recognizable but the rest is simple uninspired and quite dull. The second half is quite good for some energetic up tempo sections but the rest is too weak. All in all, this is not an album that could be enjoyed so easily. It has a bunch of flaws in inspiration, songwriting and also in the way the bands plays: some solos are terrible. If you add to this a heavy Exciter rip-off veneration, the prospect is complete. It’s not a terrible failure, but these tracks could be easily avoided and I think you can live anyway.