Ottawa's Exciter was one of the leaders of the new extreme wave of metal that swept the underground metal scene in the early ‘80s.

Formed in 1979, they were signed by Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records based on the Heavy Metal Maniac demo and given a slot on his U.S. Metal compilation. Even though the band is often credited with being the first to record a speed/thrash metal album, a series of line-up changes and false labels cost the band much momentum. The band supported album number two by opening for Motörhead in Canada and the USA. Only European break came when the band supported Accept in Europe for Long Live The Loud. Gary Bidmead who had worked with Motörhead recorded this album in England.

The band was bleeding members by the time Exciter was released and when Ricci and Beehler put it all together again even the revamped line-up was critical of that album and era. This reincarnated Exciter first appeared in 1991 on the Capital Punishment sampler released by new manager Manfred Leidecker.

In the nineties Noise Records signed the band and Exciter opened (!) for Rage across Western Europe. Again, the band bled members until the Osmose incarnation (with Ricci being the only original member) came into being.

Exciter was always characterized by the banshee wails of Beehler and ripping guitars. A more recent recruit called Belanger seemed to be in and out of the band often. Dead Calm singer Steve Carter was also the band's singer during summer of 1999.

In January of 2001, Beehler recruited members and formed a new band called Beehler. Months later Beehler recruited original Exciter bassist Alan Johnson to his cause. Marc Charron left the fold late in 2002. Rob Degroot was also announced as the new singer for Exciter.

Former Exciter frontman Jacques Belanger had rejoined the band in 2003. Rob Degroot, who had joined the band in autumn of 2002, was asked to leave because "he was not progressing and adapting to Exciter's signature style."

In 2003 the band reported that the line-up is recording sixteen songs of which ten are from the band's back catalogue and five of which are brand new. The album was due out through Osmose in January of 2004. John Ricci was taking care of all guitars and bass on that recording. Osmose Productions licensed the re-recorded ‘classics’ album New Testament in North America to The End Records. In the autumn of 2004 the band cancelled a Belgian show because singer Jacques Belanger had a vocal cord in need of surgery. The band soon flew back to Canada.

The band was booked for The Montreal Metal Massacre Fest alongside Razor, DBC, Anvil and Aggression in December of 2005. For the third time in ten years Jacques Belanger quit the band in May of 2006. Due to "differences of opinion” on many issues between Jacques and the rest of the band, the singer had felt he could no longer continue as vocalist for Exciter. The band had to cancel shows in Europe, the USA and Canada, but had completed the writing for a new CD. The new voice of Exciter was American Kenny ‘metalmouth’ Winter from Brooklyn, New York. Fans were due to hear Kenny’s vocal performance on the upcoming new release, Thrash Speed Burn, expected in early 2007. In what the band described as “good news,” Exciter parted ways with Osmose Productions in 2007. The band was looking for a new label for the release of the Thrash Speed Burn album. The label was found and was called Massacre Records. The group hit the road in Canada in the meanwhile and played at the MQM show in Toronto in the summer. Chainsaw, Picture, Tokyo Blade, Exciter and Tygers Of Pan Tang were some of the bands at 2009’s Heavy Metal Maniacs festival, scheduled for October 23rd and 24th at Manifesto in Hoorn, Holland. Exciter, Necrophobic, Freedom Call, Crashdiet and Udo were participating in a ship cruise called Sweden Rock Cruise departing Stockholm on October 8th, 2009!

EXCITER – Same – MAGNETIC AIR/MVD  
This is a re-release of Exciter’s 1988 self-titled album, which was originally issued by Maze. This version was reissued by the band’s Magnetic Air Records – as O.T.T. incidentally - and is now picked up for distribution by MVD and deservedly so. Exciter circa 1988 is trying to recapture the magic of its first two albums, 1983’s Heavy Metal Maniac and 1984’s Violence And Force simultaneous to the introduction of its new singer and the band’s expansion to a quartet, with a good degree of success. By this juncture, any talk of rivalry between Ottawa’s Exciter and the likes of Slayer and Metallica had pretty much died down, but the gang has some killer songs here nonetheless.
The album kicks off with Scream Bloody Murder, which is a classic Exciter song with an exceptionally brilliant guitar solo. This is a great way to start any album and from there it is off to the races. Notable songs are the screechy vocals of Rob Malnati, which are almost as, er, exciting as Dan Beehler’s. His screams of banshee were too much for some, but only the Johnny-come-lately of metal denies the exhilaration embedded in them. Songs like Dying To Live and O.T.T. have an odd early Loudness flavour, with the former showing some good riffing action. Ready To Rock, not unsurprisingly, has some hard rock tendencies reminding of the L.A. scene of the ‘80s, while I Wanna Be King again provides room for a great guitar lead. The speed metal band goes slow on several songs, but fans will find loads of up-tempo riffing on this, as in on any, Exciter album.
Exciter was always heavy, fast, original and neatly tucked in its own corner of the heavy metal scene. This album, surely, is one of those under-rated and underexposed outings that more people should pick up and discover no matter whether looking at classic metal or searching for the origins of the underground. This album, however, has been reissued three times at least and all, except for the original record, feature the tenth track Termination. As such, those who have bought this previously certainly need not do so again unless for the need of a different cover artwork. – Ali “The Metallian”