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

Exciter... I am sure most of you are just like me, you've already heard of this band somewhere, but you can't remember where, and although you can guess what they are playing, you've never really listened to it... A bit of history for everybody (including me): Exciter was first formed in 1978 in Ottawa, Canada under the name Hell Razor. They changed their name into Exciter, yes like the song of Judas Priest, yes it is on purpose, yes this is heavy metal a la Priest. They changed about 4552 times their line-up through the years, released nine albums (New Testament is the tenth officially, even if it's a best-of), and so they can be considered as surviving dinosaurs in the metal world.

So you guessed right, and I already said it, Exciter plays heavy metal, Judas Priest is their major influence, the resemblance with the British gods is more than obvious, everything from the riffs to the songs' construction is made to remind the great times of the Priest (listen to 'Brutal Warning' and tell me it's not the exact copy of Metal Meltdown...). They've even found a singer, Jacques Bélanger, that sounds like Rob Halford, even if he is just slightly lower-pitched (not everyone can compete with Halford). I won't go on and on about the similarities between the two bands, some will say it's just because they both started more or less at the same moment, I say it's probably a lack of inventiveness, or just that they are fans and pay tribute to their idols, but still, if you want to know what Exciter sounds like, just imagine Painkiller (the album), minus a bit of talent, minus a bucket of originality, minus the diversity of the songs.

New Testament is not a bad album, far from it, but first it's too long, I mean fifteen songs when you start repeating yourself after seven is almost unbearable, then it painfully lacks in breaks and pace changes, in other words the constant high speed makes this albums lack in something that could grab the attention... instead of being boring and tiring. Maybe this is a lack of creativity, and it's a shame because this album is very pleasant to hear on the first half, but then it's just as if you had pushed the repeat button, and the last half goes on without being noticed, I know I use it as a background when I am busy and don't want to be disturbed by a song I could sing on.

In a nutshell, the longevity of Exciter is amazing, but now I understand why they've always been in the shadows behind Judas Priest: they lack in something essential: genius and the ability to write personal songs. If you're a die-hard fan of pure heavy metal, you still can try New Testament, it's good enough to make you have a good moment and maybe to try their real albums... As far as I'm concerned, I'm just going to treat myself with Painkiller, yay!!