While I’ll be the last to complain that there’s no decent music being made now – something that people over the age of 30 seem to constantly whinge about as they pine for their youth and the excitement of discovery - there is some truth in the adage that they don’t make ‘em like they used to, especially when it comes to hardcore / thrash metal crossover albums. With relentless riffage and shouted, angry vocals – in the punk sense, rather than the guttural kind that’s now ubiquitous – Excel sit somewhere between early Metallica and late Fudge Tunnel. The pace is blistering, the mood eternally furious.
This reissue of Excel’s debut follows their 2013 reunion and is augmented with eight bonus cuts, in the form of the Personal Onslaught Demo (1985) and the Refuse To Quit Demo (1986). It’s all killer and no filler, and that’s a fact.
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