EXCITER

Release Year: 2005
Artist Origin: CAN
Style: savage aggressive heavy speed metal

when Brian McPhee stepped in to replace John Ricci at guitarist position, things started to change, and these nine songs on the fourth album [1986] of Ottawa's three-piece is a direct result, taking a safer and more traditional way of laying down the souls to the god's rock'n roll, i.e. heavy metal - perhaps an influence of label executives too, but music brims with genuine eighties spirit nonetheless, where intricate interplay between melody and power is clearly audible, guitar riffs become more deliberate than instinctive, rhythm gains a disciplined weight, and the vocals, having lost their hysterical edge, maintain a dramatic tension as if seeking a balance between emotion and control, meanwhile cheesy front cover image is familiar from the days of vinyl record shops; recent re-issue comes with a sound remastered in 2004 by Jeff Waters [Annihilator] at Watersound studio, and liner notes by band members in the booklet, US import