Exciter - Heavy Metal Maniac (1983)^{Release ID: 6117}

I first became acquainted with Exciter around the middle of 1985 when I picked up a copy of a Music For Nations comp, Hell Comes to Your House, from my local record emporium. That compilation changed my metal-listening life for ever. It wasn't because of Exciter's Violence and Force which was track two (or even Manowar's Blood of my Enemies which opened the album and which I already knew), no it was the opener of side two, Metallica's Creeping Death which shattered my worldview on what heavy metal meant. I fucking hammered that track over and over, at least until I got a copy of Ride the Lightning anyway and then I fucking hammered that too! Sadly for Exciter that meant they never really got a look in and were just "some other band on that comp with Creeping Death on" and so I never really paid them much mind.

So let's fast forward the best part of forty years and now I'm here finally giving Canada's speed metal trailblazers' debut album the attention it properly deserves. Originally going by the clunky moniker Hell Razor, they later took their permanent name from the classic Judas Priest track and that's a decent choice because the track Exciter does bear a lot of the hallmarks that Exciter the band were going for. They play high energy, get-out-of-our-way speed metal that may sound quite generic now, but considering this was released in '83 there wasn't a huge amount of stuff in similar vein before it. Taking inspiration from NWOBHM bands like Venom, Maiden, Diamond Head and, of course, Motörhead tracks like Overkill and The Hammer, Exciter just wanted to crank it up and strive for a kind of extremity by playing as fast as they possibly could.

While you would get no argument from me that this was an earth-shaking release at the time of it's release, just before "Kill 'Em All" and a full six months before "Show No Mercy", it just doesn't have the kudos of others from the time. Despite it's missing link status bridging the gap between the NWOBHM and the just-emerging Bay Area thrashers, it was quickly overshadowed, thus condemning Exciter to the role of supporting characters rather than leading men. This is a great shame because there are some exhilharating tracks on offer here, "Stand Up and Fight", "Under Attack" and "Cry of the Banshee" are supercharged headlong metallic charges dessigned for god-tier headbanging action. Unfortunately, the rock 'n' roll-like nature of the title track misses the mark for me, "World War III" feels like a very lacklustre workout and the attempted epic track "Black Witch" doesn't play at all to the band's strengths.

Still, all things considered, this must be counted as a fairly important album in the history of metal, it's importance maybe being greater than it's actual quality, but it still has some really good stuff on it, even though it may occasionally fail to hit the heights or consistencies of it's contemporaries. 

Speed metal legends Exciter first formed under the name of Hell Razor in Ontario, Canada back in 1978. They later changed their name to Exciter in 1982; presumably after the classic Judas Priest song of the same name. The only other Canadian band of any note to that time was of course Anvil so not only were Exciter sporting a brand new sound but they were also fairly influential in pushing the Canadian metal scene forwards. In fact, they seem to have hit a newly refreshed level of popularity in recent years off the back of the strong trend towards old-school metal with every man & his dog now sporting an Exciter patch on their metal armour even though very few would have been around to hear them back in the day.  

Exciter ended up signing with Shrapnel Records who would later go on to become the biggest label in the world for instrumental guitar shred records & Exciter’s first & only studio album for Shrapnel entitled “Heavy Metal Maniac” was released on 14th January 1983, the very same month that the self-titled debut from Belgium's Acid (the other initial speed metal release) would see the light of day in a vastly different part of the world. Exciter's debut would be the more highly celebrated of the two though, with the album generally finding itself included in most speed metal top tens still to this day. 

I have to say that the album title is pretty apt because it’s a metal as fuck record that’s a fair bit more intense than Acid could muster. In fact, there are a fair few sections of the album that are nothing short of full-blown thrash metal. The real talking point of the band though is unquestionably the fact that vocalist Dan Beehler is also Exciter’s drummer which is something we hadn’t seen in metal up until that time. And Dan makes a pretty decent fist of it too although it has to be said that his skills in either discipline are unquestionably fairly minimal. To be honest, his vocals could have fit pretty comfortably on an early thrash metal record from the likes of Dark Angel. They’re very raw & often miss the mark in the pitch department but they get the job done. Dan’s drumming lacks ambition but that’s hardly surprising. He does however keep Exciter moving along at a rip-roaring pace throughout. The guitar sound of John Ricci is perfect for this style of music. There’s no need for polish as John just goes for it & expends every drop of his limited ability in making a ferocious racket that’s both raw, powerful & exciting. His solos sound like he’s hell bent on playing as many notes in a short period as possible but doesn’t quite have the skills to pull it off. He does end up sounding pretty cool though. 

The overall production job on “Heavy Metal Maniac” is exactly what I want to hear from an uncompromising underground metal band & for that reason it may have stunted Exciter’s commercial potential to an extent but has in turn enabled the band to gain a lot of street cred in the process. From an influence point of view, Exciter seem to draw upon the NWOBHM much less often than some of their speed metal contemporaries with the classic metal bands of the 70’s being the more obvious points of reference. The impact that Judas Priest & Motorhead have had on the band is easily discernable & so is that of Black Sabbath during the slower moments. In fact, if I’m completely honest, I find the couple of slower numbers to be the most appealing tracks on the record but the rest of the album is pretty much pedal to the metal from start to finish which is what speed metal is all about of course. 

Unfortunately I’m just not sure that the song-writing is good enough to warrant the heavy praise that “Heavy Metal Maniac” receives on occasions. I do have a fair bit of time for the album but I don’t think the highlights are anything terribly mind-blowing. Plus there are a couple of weaker numbers on the B side that don’t do much for me so I have to admit that I prefer the simple fun of the Acid debut over this one. It’s still certainly worth a listen if you like 80’s speed metal though.