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Exciter ranks with the likes of Anvil and Razor in the pantheon of metal from the Great White North, helping to define Canadian thrash metal or what was more commonly called "speed" metal back in the ‘80s. Their first three albums, Heavy Metal Manic, Violence and Force and Long Live the Loud are classics that should be viewed in the same light as releases like Executioner’s Song and Metal on Metal.

Album number three, Long Live the Loud, found the band polishing some of the more glaringly rough edges from Heavy Metal Manic and Violence and Force. Not that the music changed all that much. Guitarist John Ricci and bassist Allan Johnson still thrashed their instruments at top speed while drummer/singer Dan Beehler went for an even more throat-rending scream than on previous albums. What changed was the tone of the album. Where the first two had more "real world" themes of violence, especially in the cover art, Long Live the Loud turned in a more "epic" direction. They changed their artwork from a man’s leather and spike bedecked arm brandishing a knife to a sword-wielding barbarian/scantily-clad female motif. Even if it looked different, Long Live the Loud is still that same evil, insanely fast thrash metal Exciter was known for and songs like "Long Live the Loud", "Victims of Sacrifice" and "Beyond the Gates of Doom" are absolute killers that blast from the speakers and strike you full in the face. This is the music you played at three in the morning as loud as possible when you had neighbors you hated.

Long Live the Loud would be the last album with the lineup that began Exciter’s recording career as guitarist Ricci would leave prior to 1986’s Unveiling the Wicked (as of this writing the original members are back together, hopefully with an album in the works). Even though the band’s recorded output would vary over the years, they left us with three classics of Canadian speed metal. Don’t let the Manowar artwork fool you; Long Live the Loud needs to be owned by every thrash fan.