Exciter
Kill After Kill

It was 1991 when, after five years of continuous decline in popularity following the less-than-successful releases of "Unveiling The Wicked" in 1986 and "Exciter (O.T.T.)" in 1988, where the melodic mainstream shift desired by the historic drummer and singer Dan Beehler dominated, the return to the six strings of the legendary John Ricci seemed to bring new life to a band already adrift, filling a compositional void that the presence of the very virtuosic Brian McPhee on the two aforementioned albums could not erase.

Also dismissed was singer Rob Malnati, who had replaced Beehler on vocals in the last studio effort, and after bassist David Ledden was recruited following Allan Johnson's departure, the three soon locked themselves in the studio and by 1992 the aggressive "Kill After Kill" could see the light of day, a return to the sonic savagery of the early years executed with awareness and skill, but unfortunately often (unjustly, in my very humble opinion) lambasted by critics, who repeatedly highlighted the use of compositional clichés borrowed from Beehler and Ricci's earliest musical experience.

In reality, the album in question is a very solid blend of powerful and coherent Speed Metal, without any kind of weakness, rich in excellently crafted tracks particularly suitable for live performance, as demonstrated by the very raucous opener "Rain Of Terror", from which an adrenaline-pumping promotional video was also made at the time: Beehler relentlessly punishes the skins, unleashing himself at insane speeds and giving his all in an absolutely extreme and terrifying vocal performance, with his hoarse singing capable of vertiginous high peaks. The subsequent "No Life, No Future" moves along the same lines, perhaps a bit overshadowed by the previous highlight, but manages nonetheless to offer great emotions, as in the central break where the tempo slows down to make way for a quiet, slightly melancholic solo by Ricci. "Cold Blooded Murder" sees a slowdown in pace and the unhealthy presence of an unsettling riff that darkens and weighs down the atmosphere, but it's only by going through the insane speed of "Smashin'Em Down" that we reach one of the true peaks of the platter, the beautiful "Shadow Of The Cross": the antithesis of the traditional ballad par excellence, somewhat akin to the beautiful "Blackwitch" that already graced the Canadian band's debut album in 1983, the track unfolds between very slow tempos, mephitic distortions, and aggressive, fierce vocal lines, then takes off and finally bursts into the furious concluding instrumental gallop.

With "Dog Eat Dog" it returns to typical Exciter Speed Metal, while "Anger, Hate And Destruction", slower, is backed by a killer riff that's hard to resist: the tempo changes, Beehler's obsessive drumming, and his voice as rough as sandpaper package another little gem that should not remain unknown to all fans of the Ottawa combo. "The Second Coming" retraces the already established and traditional Speed coordinates of the Canadians, leaving the honor of concluding the work to yet another outburst from our heroes, the beautiful "Born To Kill", in an unusual live version; the track seems to borrow at some points the teachings of Venom, the true "fathers" of all extremism in the Metal realm, marking another successful album, which unfortunately will be the last studio one for the band before the 1996 reunion, but also the last with the legendary Dan Beehler behind the drums. Critics tore the album and the group apart, and the good live "Better Live Than Dead" in 1993 was of no avail to save the formation, which disbanded that same year.

A return to origins not too distant, this "Kill After Kill", a resumption of that way of making music that had made them known to all lovers of uncompromising Metal that not everyone, however, knew how to appreciate. The usual Exciter album? Exactly what we wanted!