Search - Exciter :: Long Live the Loud

On Top Of Your Wreckage We Stand!

David Chris Dalton | Raleigh, NC United States | 06/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ah, this record brings back some of the most vivid memories of my 37 years on this planet. Where to begin?



Summer, 1985. My dad had cancer and was in the hospital in St. Louis. I was a hundred-and-fifty miles south in our little hometown of Poplar Bluff. I would drive once every week to St. Louis to visit. I bought this on my very first trip to see him.



This was highly, highly anticipated by me and my cohorts that summer. Metallica's, "Ride the Lightning" was almost a year old and Slayer's, "Hell Awaits" had just been released, as had the debut by Exodus. What on earth would LP number three from Ottawa's finest bring? Word was that they were wimping out... After hearing a track on Music For Nations, "Metal Zone" comp, I was pretty sure that wasn't the case.



Although not the groudbreaking landmark that my friends and I had hoped for, "Long Live the Loud" is quite pleasing. Maybe I was a bit let down...I had built this thing up to immortal proportions in my little head.



Essentially, the same style as the first two. A bunch of proto-power-thrash with loads of double-bass drumming and banshee wails from Dan Beehler, atonal screeeeeeeching, ala Greg Ginn, from Jon Ricci, as well as bulldozer bass backlash from Alan Johnson. Side Two is a bit more proggy, (Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh...) with "Wake Up Screaming" moving through several tempos and stolen Sabbath ideas. "Born To Die" and "Victims of Sacrifice" plod and pound along at mid-tempo, barely escaping devolution into "boring," but manage to keep their heads above putrid water. All the rest thrash and flail along like Motorhead and Saxon trapped in a British Mk. II tank being pushed by an out-of-control steam locomotive that Lemmy can't get a handle on.



Guy Bidimead, who had recently manned the wheels of steel for the "new" songs on Motorhead's, "No Remorse" comp, lends his production skills here. The result is noisy and thinner than one would like, but still barely containing the thrashing rage these guys were capable of stiring up.



In the end, Exciter never falls prey to their lack of skill, songwriting ability, botched production or horrifically cliche lyrics, simply because the performance is so over-the-top and contains SO MUCH energy. Laugh all you want, but you'll sift through 1,000 bands or more before you find another with the rawr, manic energy these guys had in their glory days!"

Please Mr. Waters clear this up...

Metallah | Somewhere in the world | 04/13/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I got the cd today and compared it to the bootleg, which is around since a few years. The back of the cd states that Jeff Waters has remastered the disc and so I was listening and trying to hear the difference. I simply did not find any. The same goes for the other re-release "Heavy Metal Maniac", it even has the same plops like the bootleg version. Where is the remaster gone? Blown in the wind? I wonder why Megaforce itself does not at all give us any information about the re-releases of a - for this genre - legandary band. Take a look at the Megaforce website and you will find - NOTHING. Nothing but announcements for upcoming Anthrax and Overkill re-releases but Exciter does not seem to exist in the labels schedule. Also their shop doesn't list it. Only place to find it is the history.



Very strange.



So I wasted my money for this crap, which I already had. My opinion.



The music itself is awesome like it always was but the release a shame. This band would deserve more respect.



Sad."

Old School Thrash at its very best!!!!

M. Aldred | Las Vegas, NV United States | 04/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best Exciter album of all time. To make my review short and to the point, this album makes you want to bang your head through the wall!!!!!! Nuff said!!"