Long Live the Loud

Exciter’s debut for Megaforce Records captures the raw velocity of early Canadian speed metal, where tremolo-picked riffs collide with shrieking vocals at breakneck tempos. The band’s thrash assault—all chainsaw guitars and frenetic drumming—helped define the blueprint that thrash metal would follow throughout the 1980s. Long Live the Loud remains a cornerstone of the speed metal canon, its unpolished aggression a stark contrast to the production-heavy heavy metal dominating radio at the time.