EXCITER: Early Albums To Be Re-Released This Week

March 14, 2005

Canadian thrash metal pioneers EXCITER will have three of their classic albums — "Heavy Metal Maniac" (1983),"Long Live the Loud" (1985) and "Unveiling the Wicked" (1986) — re-released on March 15 via Megaforce Records. All three releases were remastered by Jeff Waters (ANNIHILATOR) and include bonus tracks.

The Ottawa band was formed in 1979 by drummer Dan Beehler, bassist Allan Johnson and guitarist John Ricci. An early recording, "World War III", was picked up by Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records and the rest is history: metalheads were hooked on their raw, wild sound, long before thrash/speed metal had even been defined.

Drawing influences from British-style heaviness, their music is best described as a mutant cross between JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN, and MOTÖRHEAD, done EXCITER style. By the time the debut record "Heavy Metal Maniac" was released in 1983, advance orders for 15,000 units had been placed just from the street buzz alone. The band would go on to sell hundreds of thousands more and have a huge influence on other now-well-known bands of that time.

By the end of 1983 EXCITER was signed to Megaforce Records, founding label to some of the most important and biggest names in metal (METALLICA, ANTHRAX, MANOWAR). They recorded their classic record "Violence and Force" and followed it up with "Long Live the Loud".

The release of these records had the band touring the world with the likes of MEGADETH, MOTÖRHEAD, MÖTLEY CRÜE and VENOM. 1985 also saw the departure of guitarist John Ricci. EXCITER forged on with the release of "Unveiling the Wicked" and "O.T.T.", playing in front of as many as 10,000 people per night in countries like Brazil.

In 1990 the original line-up joined forces again and made the album "Kill After Kill", then triumphantly returned to Europe for another successful tour. The band returned to Canada and recorded their first official live album, "Better Live Than Dead"; this would be the last collaboration that would mark the end of the legendary EXCITER lineup.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).