Former EXCITER Guitarist JOHN RICCI Announces Debut Album From His New Band POWERRAGE

POWERRAGE, the new band featuring former EXCITER guitarist John Ricci, will release its debut album, "Beast", on April 24 via High Roller Records. The LP was mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound and it features artwork by Mario Lopez.

In addition to Ricci, POWERRAGE includes bassist Todd Pilon (formerly of WITCHKILLER),vocalist Jacques Bélanger (who previously sang on three EXCITER albums: "The Dark Command" [1997], "Blood Of Tyrants" [2000] and "New Testament" [2004]) and drummer Lucas Dery.

While Ricci and Bélanger were both members of EXCITER, John wants to make one thing perfectly clear. "Well, with this band I didn't want to be another EXCITER," he says. "It was time to move on. Even though EXCITER was based around my guitar style, and it was a successful formula, I wanted to start from scratch and start all over again.

"Starting over and not depending on your past accomplishments is definitely a very difficult task but I feel confident enough I can make it happen," he continues.

"I wrote everything on 'Beast': music, lyrics, melodies," Ricci explains. "POWERRAGE is 100 % my musical vision. All eight songs are brand-new — no rehashed riffs from my EXCITER days."

"Beast" track listing:

01. Dark Wings
02. Cremation Damnation
03. Dragon Man
04. Haunted Hell
05. I Torture I Kill
06. The Devil Is Screaming
07. Damned And Cursed
08. The Black Mass

More than seven years ago, EXCITER bassist Allan Johnson spoke to The Metal Voice about the September 2018 departure of Ricci. The guitarist has since been replaced by Daniel Dekay, who has previously played with DIEMONDS. Asked why Ricci decided to once again exit EXCITER, Allan said: "Well, that's still somewhat of a mystery. We haven't seen or actually spoke with John since it happened. We got back from our Singapore gig, and we started some e-mail chats back and forth, and John just said he's kind of getting fed up and he wants out. Dan [Beehler, drums/vocals] and I were actually quite surprised about this. First thing I said was we've got shows next year — tentative shows; nothing concrete — a couple coming up. They start to filter in quite quicky this time of year for 2019. So John said, 'You and Dan can go ahead and do the shows without me.' And that was pretty much it. He didn't give a solid reason why. I don't know what he meant by 'fed up,' but he said he was fed up. I confirmed with him. I said, 'Are you sure about this?' And he said, 'Yeah, I'm definitely out.'"

Ricci previously left EXCITER in 1985 following the release of the band's first three classic albums — "Heavy Metal Maniac" (1983),"Violence & Force" (1984) and "Long Live the Loud" (1985).

"It's funny because the first thing I said to Dan when I contacted him [to let him know John was out] was I texted him and I said, 'Guess what — it's 1985 all over again,'" Allan said. "And he said, 'What? What?' Like, what's going on? It's funny — it's like déjà vu. [In 1985], we came back from a U.S. tour and John said, 'I'm out. That's it. I don't wanna do it anymore.' And we were, like, 'Well, we've got a Germany tour. What do you wanna do?' And he said, 'Do it without me.' So back then, we got our old guitarist, Brian McPhee, from a band that Dan and I played with before we were in EXCITER. So it was like total déjà vu. Only this time we have an opportunity to do things better than we did back in '85. And by having Dekay onboard, I think we're gonna definitely do that."

EXCITER's latest album, "Death Machine", which featured Ricci as the sole remaining original member, was released in October 2010 via Massacre Records.

Ricci, Beehler and Johnson reunited as EXCITER in 2014 and had been playing sporadic shows until John's latest departure.