EXCITER - review added 11th November 2010
Album Review: Death Machine (2010)
For fans of: Extreme Thrash... and the past
Canadian thrash act Exciter - with a 2010 line-up of Kenny Winter on vocals, John Ricci on guitar, Robert "Clammy" Cohen on bass, and Rick Charron on drums - formed in the late 1970s. First album "Heavy Metal Maniac" came out in 1983, and that was soon followed by Violence And Force (1984) and a whole bunch more. This is a band who have been active for a long time, with gaps of no more than 4 years between albums. Impressive stuff.
"Death Machine", put together by long time producer Manfred Leidecker (and with artwork by friend and colleague Julian Llliev), follows their 2008 album "Speed, Thrash, Burn".
The sound is a mix of speedy thrash and the down-and-dirty world of underground extreme metal. This is not a pristine modern record. It takes the sound of the past and pumps it out for a 2010 audience. There is little panache to the production, but treated as a walk down memory lane - and comparing it to music creation before the world turned digital - it makes a lot sense. I'm not generally a huge fan of this retro-biased style. Other recent albums by bands like White Wizzard and RAM trod a similar path, and I wasn't overly fussed by them either. However, the songs themselves - looking beyond the muggy sheen that covers everything - are often bloody enjoyable.
In summation...
I know there are people are there who will dig this, and I kind of do, but I suspect there are a lot more who won't. This to me is an album by a band who have one foot stuck in the past. I think it's time to wake up and smell the 21st century, but if they don't their loyal fan base will still always be there for them...and that may well be enough for these guys.
Check out... The quality of the songs beneath the iffy production.
Track List:
01. Death Machine
02. Demented Prisoners
03. Dungeon Disciples
04. Hellfire
05. Power and Domination
06. Pray For Pain
07. Razor In Your Back
08. Skull Breaker
09. Slaughtered In Vain
Label: Massacre Records
Artist's website(s): MySpace | Facebook
