Thrash, Speed, Burn

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.