Exciter – “Death Machine”

Canada’s Exciter have been in existence now for 34 years, an amazing achievement no matter how you look at it. The band has had several line-up changes, including vocalists, so at times their discography has seemed a bit disjointed. When I found out that Death Machine was originally released in Europe back in 2010, my hackles immediately went up as generally this is an indication of a release that is low on quality. This is thankfully, not the case as the release, while not a a classic by any stretch of the imagination is a decent thrash record, with singer Kenny Winter sounding kind of like Dave Mustaine.

If you already know what Exciter sounds like, you pretty much know what to expect here: blazing fast thrashy tracks that make you want to bang your head like it’s 1988 all over again. The band truly makes a point of sticking to their roots which is a good thing as that’s exactly what Exciter’s fans want.

A couple of points that I do want to go over with the album are: A. The production is a bit too muddy which severely distracts from the listening experience. B. The songs, while decent never truly take off to where I went and said “yeah, that son’s fricking awesome!”, instead all of them were pretty good songs with nothing stellar standing out from the crowd. Hopefully the band fixes these points next time and finally put out an album that will put them into the same tier as the “big boys” of thrash.

Track Listing:

01. Death Machine
02. Dungeon Descendants
03. Razor In Your Back
04. Pray For Pain
05. Power and Domination
06. Hellfire
07. Demented Prisoner
08. Slaughtered in Vain
09. Skull Breaker

Run Time: 43:33
Release Date: February 14, 2012

Check out the song: “Death Machine”