Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Exciter-s/t

Photobucket
1988/1995/2009
Magnetic Air/MVD

I remember buying this one on vinyl twenty plus years ago. The original cover had a patch with the Exciter logo on a black leather jacket this album is sometimes known as . My hope was that it be a return to the style of their first three releases. I think that the band had begun to go more mainstream on 1986's "Unveiling the wicked". Unfortunately that was a trend that continued on this the band's fifth album which is sometimes known as "O.T.T." . Drummer Chuck Beehler gave up vocal duties to new member Rob Malnati as the band became a quartet for the first time. That decision made little sense to me. Nothing against Malnati, but Beehler's screaming vocals helped define Exciter's sound. Malnati can hit similar levels, but he also has more of a hard rock voice and he just does not have the touch that Beehler did. To accompany his voice the band spent about 2/3 of these tracks sounding like an accessible, big hair rock bands ala Dokken. Not that there is anything wrong with Dokken. However Exciter had established themselves as one of the founders of speed metal. With this change in style on this album they were going soft and they seemed to be taking step back what they previously established. I think by 1988 that they found themselves falling behind in he thrash genre and being replaced by bands they had influenced just a few years earlier. Yet instead of progressing and building on their sound instead they chose to slow down and try to make mid-tempo anthems. Some are decent, but some are just rather ordinary and even a little old by 1988 standards. All in all it is a rather average album at best. Exciter would eventually get back to their roots and they are still going at it today.

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9 Comments:

Blogger Sean said...

This is the album that everyone loves to hate. Except me. It's the only Exciter album that I really like. When I read that they were doign a reissue I was at least hoping for some bonus tracks but they just changed the album cover. Sorry, not re-buying this for an album cover. Songs like Scream Bloody Murder, Enemy Lines, Eyes In the Sky and King of the Castle are worth the price of this CD alone.

6:33 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

Sean-It's an okay album and I might have a better view of it if it didn't go under the Exciter bands name. It's a major downgrade from albums like "Violence and Force" and "Long live the loud".

6:46 AM  
Blogger Ray Van Horn, Jr. said...

I agree with Mark and gave this a lukewarm review as well and Mark and I share some of the same points, like the slower stuff sounding like Breaking the Chains era Dokken. The vocals are too piercing for my taste, despite growing up in the 80s on them, albeit the three fast songs are all really good

9:05 PM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

Ray-The stuff that sounds like Dokken is better than Breaking the Chains era material. Now that was one dull album.

4:30 AM  
Blogger Sean said...

Yeah, other than Breaking the Chains and Paris Is Burning, that album sucked. Tooth and Nail is a different story. Brilliant.

5:15 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

Sean-I agree with you about Dokken.

6:09 AM  
Blogger Ray Van Horn, Jr. said...

Tooth and Nail is Dokken's finest hour, no doubt about. I'm still addicted to that album much as I was in the mid eighties

10:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Like SEAN, i like this album too, but i like all EXCITER albums, the more thrash/speed metal ones and the more melodic albums. I personaly listen to anything between hard rock and black metal and the most important thing for me are the songs, and i think that the songs on this album are great.

12:39 PM  
Blogger Hard Rock Hideout said...

This almost sounds as if they were trying to create "The Black Album". I haven't heard this one, but if it is in the vein of Dokken, with some thrash metal sprinkled in, I may like it more than you.

2:23 PM  

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