Put your progressive metal away. Hide your goth and your death and your power metal and most of all, lock up your daughters. This is pure, classic, honest-to-God, balls-to-the-wall Heavy metal with a capital 'T' for Testosterone!
Remember Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and Saxon and Motorhead and Black Sabbath and (maybe) Deep Purple? Remember early-day Metallica? From '79 and through the '80s, Exciter used to play on their block and they stood down for none of those heavyweights. The Canadians were at the heart of the classic NWOBHM power-chord riff-driven sound and needed no more than 3 musicians to make their point.
Four years after their previous album, their 9th, New Testament is a re-recording of 15 songs hand-picked from 6 albums. The lineup is new, the execution is flawless, the gravity and the angry guitar work and the truly exceptional drumming are better than ever. And Frontman Jacques Bélanger is right up there with the Halfords and the Dickinsons and the Dios of the world.
Don't expect a huge sonic variety from song to song. This is wall-to-wall vintage Exciter, the "Iron Maiden Of Canada", and their signature sound is prevalent throughout. The only exception is the first 3˝ minutes of "Blackwitch", which is an acoustic / classical guitar piece that will impress the most jaded metal critic.
If Progressive Metal and Symphonic Prog are your thing, you will think that every song sounds the same. But if you're a metal connoisseur you're advised to lay your hands on this one. Yes, it's a best-of compilation. But it's also so much more. It is the perfection of what was already good, and it just may be the rebirth of an era.
Click here to read our recent interview with Exciter
Track Listing
01. Rising Of The Dead
02. Violence And Force
03. Rule With An Iron Fist
04. Rain Of Terror
05. Brutal Warning
06. Victims Of Sacrifice
07. The Dark Command
08. I Am The Beast
09. Pouding Metal
10. Stand Up And Fight
11. Heavy Metal Maniac
12. Blackwitch
13. Burn At The Stake
14. Long Live The Loud
15. Ritual Death
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