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The Exploited > The Massacre > Reviews
The Exploited - The Massacre

A bit overlong. A few real classic songs on it - 70%

morbert, November 4th, 2019

Let’s be frank. For many ‘metal people’ this was their first Exploited album because it got plenty coverage in metal mags in 1990 and people had become much more open minded because the whole crossover scene had opened doors and was extremely alive in 1990. The fact that ‘The Massacre’ was the most ‘metalic’ Exploited album to date, including a heavier and tighter production as well, also added to the growing interest from the metal-corner.

For this album Wattie had surrounded himself with an entirely new line-up compared to the previous studio album 'Death Before Dishonour' (1987) featuring Tony Warren on drums, Mark Smellie on bass and most noticeable Gordon Balfour on guitar. Why do I say ‘most noticeable’? Because the way a guitarist plays, which amp he uses and how he is produced pretty much quite often defines when hardcore punk becomes crossover. And Gordon Balfour took the already slight metallic edge of ‘Death Before Dishonour’ to a new level.

Best song on the album? That is easy! DON’T PAY THE POLL TAX. Cool riffs, catchy chorus, brilliant intro with a raging bassline. Second place is easily taken by the eerie and powerful midpaced pounder ‘Blown Out of the Sky’. These two instant classics are followed closely by titletrack ‘The Massacre’ and the very aggressive and powerful ‘Fuck Religion’.

Negative aspects about the album? Why only 70 points? Well actually a lot of the remaining songs could’ve (or should’ve) been a bit shorter even though the average song length is only 3:36. For instance ‘Porno Slut’ is 3:11 minutes long but could’ve been a better song with only 2 minutes. As it is, the chorus comes around at least one time too many and the main riffs and chord progressions aren't cool enough to stay interesting the full length of it. Same goes for most of the songs like ‘Now I’m dead’, ‘Boys in Blue’, ‘About to Die’, ‘Police Shit’ and ‘Stop the Slaughter’. Many songs would’ve worked so much better clocking in at around two minutes max.

As a 43 minute album it is just too long. Some riffs are played too many times and some choruses become stale after hearing them more than twice. So all in all we have enough great material to fill a 30 minute album. This could’ve been a ‘Reign in Blood’ of crossoverpunk but as it turned out we have too many songs which drag.

Standout tracks:
- Don’t Pay The Poll Tax
- Blown Out of the Sky
- The Massacre
- Fuck Religion