Exciter - Violence & Force (1984)

After exploding onto the scene with their raw and ferocious 1983 debut HEAVY METAL MANIAC, these Ontario natives came back to attack with their sophomore release, 1984’s VIOLENCE & FORCE. Marking 40 years of its speed metal mastery, EXCITER’s brilliantly simple yet intense second album still holds up today -- proving that you don’t need complexity to write great speed metal songs. It may seem ridiculous based solely on the cover art, but within the 12-inch album sleeve is a chaotic concoction of heavy, foreboding riffs, chunky bass, and the pummeling drums of EXCITER mainman DAN BEEHLER. Perhaps the sound of VIOLENCE & FORCE can be best summed up as “Black Sabbath + Motörhead + the Sex Pistols.” It’s a fun and energetic blend of both metal and punk influences, a style that many of the original speed metal bands (e.g. Killer, Acid, Warfare) would adopt throughout the early 1980s. Musically speaking, VIOLENCE & FORCE is not just a beast in its own right, but a marvel in the metal community as a whole. In many ways, it was a benchmark for what a great speed metal album should be.

With wider distribution now signed to Megaforce Records in the U.S., EXCITER was able to quickly garner a worldwide fanbase; something they couldn’t do while signed to Shrapnel Records during their promotion of HEAVY METAL MANIAC -- and ironically, that meant having to import their own album into their home country of Canada! Being signed to Megaforce also brought about other opportunities outside of the promotion thing, like getting to play with Metallica during some of their shows after their domestic tour in support of 1983’s KILL ‘EM ALL. For three guys from Ontario, they weren’t doing too bad for themselves by 1984! But enough biography, let’s talk some metal!

VIOLENCE & FORCE opens with a short hellstorm of noise called “Oblivion” before kicking into the title track, a ripping tune about the onslaught of war. From here, we get many EXCITER classics, like the catchy “Scream in the Night” and crowd favorite “Pounding Metal.” On Side B, we get even more EXCITER bangers like the slow and evil “Delivering to the Master,” the breakneck pace of “Saxons of the Fire,” and the brilliant closing track, “War Is Hell.” Indeed it is, EXCITER, indeed it is. All wrapped up in a neat little 42-minute package, the sinister offerings of DAN BEEHLER’s high screams and gritty vocals, JOHN RICCI’s simple high-speed riffs and disjointed solos, and ALLAN JOHNSON’s thrashing low-end bass energy cannot be understated. VIOLENCE & FORCE, while maybe not the best or most technical record by EXCITER, still holds its own and by all accounts, gives listeners a hell of a good time. Oh, to have been able to see these guys live in their prime! As we continue to celebrate this monster of an album, we hope to have convinced you of its brilliance and urged you to take 42 minutes out of your day to give some love to this awesome record. WAR IS HELL!

Encyclopædia Metallum

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Originally published in February '24 (Issue No. 1)