Reviewed:
- Rock Until You Drop (1981)
- Wiped Out (1982)
- Nothing Exceeds Like Excess (1988)
- Everything Louder (1997)
ROCK UNTIL YOU DROP 1981 (Neat)
- Standouts: The entire record, especially 'Hell Patrol'.
I've been going through the New Wave of British Heavy Metal albums in my collection lately - I even started a Tygers of Pan Tang page the other week. I love the NWOBHM scene of the late 70's/early 80's and what it brought to the metal genre. I first sank my teeth into this movement during my school years as a teen, with albums like Venom's Black Metal, Diamond Head's Lightning to the Nations, Def Leppard's On Through the Night, Saxon's Strong Arm the Law, Tygers of Pan Tang's Wild Cat etc.. And hey! Here's another one - Raven's debut, Rock Until You Drop!
Like Venom, Raven hail from Newcastle. Also like Venom, they arguably play a role part in the speed metal genre (although Venom were far more extreme and influenced thrash and death metal too). However, unlike Venom, who were indulging in all the heavy metal cliches of trying to look and sound as evil as possible by sticking pentagrams and inverted crosses on everything, Raven were, well, just bonkers really. Formed by the Gallagher brothers - uh, not Noel and Liam, but rather John and Mark, Raven's sound - for the most of their career - is just balls-to-the-wall, no-frills speed metal with over-the-top wailing vocals from John and energetic stage performances. Hell, they dubbed themselves 'athletic rock', which is pretty accurate really, although personally I'd swap 'rock' for 'metal'. Original drummer Rob 'Wacko' Hunter (a fitting nickname) even wore hockey pads on stage so he could pound the kit even harder.
This debut album featured everything I wanted as a 15 year old kid. Meaty, heavy and fast riffs, crazy vocals, raw production... and I still totally dig it to this day. This power-trio were ahead of their time, and it's easy to see why not too long later, up-and-coming thrash bands such as Metallica were touring with them. The songs really are full of energy, right from the get-go. Songs like 'Over the Top' and 'For the Future' have that up-tempo, galloping speed metal sound that Iron Maiden were also doing while 'Hard Ride' and 'Don't Need Your Money' are stompin' metal classics, with a punk-like approach to the lyrics and overall attitude of the songs. The title track is a sort of anthem to the metalheads, but the band even pack the song full of surprises, with a cool bass solo from John Gallagher as well as some funky/reggae-like mini-jams! What Raven had that many other NWOBHM bands didn't (aside from the fact the were faster than most), was a deliberately wacky and fun attitude - you weren't supposed to take them so seriously, but this also worked in their favour, because it also meant they could truly rock your socks off. And they could play real good too. The Sweet cover, 'Action', is very cool, and 'Lambs to the Slaughter' is a fine example of the kind of thing many of the thrash bands that would emerge in coming years took inspiration from. The only break in the music would be the short acoustic instrumental '39-40', and 'Tyrant of the Airways' brings the tempo down a little too.. to begin with at least. Aside from that, this entire album kicks ass, and frankly, if rockin' out as fast and crazy as possible is your thing, then you're in for a jolly good time here! My favourite track is probably 'Hell Patrol' (no relation to Judas Priest's song of the same name from Painkiller).
Yep, that's Rock Until You Drop. One of my favourite 80's metal albums, one of the best speed metal albums of all time, and one of the greatest NWOBHM records too. The production might be rough, but it couldn't have worked any other way. It gives these tracks a more 'live' quality.
Adam's rating: 9.2/10
WIPED OUT 1982 (Dissonance)
- Standouts: 'Faster Than the Speed of Light', 'Bring the Hammer Down', 'Fire Power', 'Read All About It', 'To the Limit/To the Top', 'Battle Zone', 'Live at the Inferno!', 'UXB', 'Hold Back the Fire', 'Chain Saw'
The goofballs of the NWOBHM, Raven, continue their brand of so-called 'athletic rock' on this follow-up to the debut album, Rock Until You Drop. This album, like it's predecessor, kicks ass. Every ingredient you'd want on a Raven album is here, there's no fucking around from any of the lads in the band. John sings like he's been snorting fat lines all day, Mark churns out endless speed metal and even early thrash metal riffs while Rob 'Wacko' is relentlessly pounding the drum skins. The furious speed metal of 'Faster Than the Speed of Light' and 'Read All About It'! The heavy boogie madness of 'Bring the Hammer Down'! The mid-tempo proto-thrash chuggers 'Fire Power' and 'Hold Back the Fire'! The lengthy, almost progressive speed metal of 'To the Limit/To the Top'!' The assault of the senses that is 'Battle Zone'! The unrelenting chaos of 'Live At the Inferno!'! The bombastic finale 'Chain Saw'! To top it all off, the production is still raw as hell, which is quintessential to the success of an album like this. Wouldn't have it any differently. Any complaints? Well, maybe fifty-one minutes is a little too long for what is essentially just a no-frills speed metal album. Maybe just remove the mid-tempo 'Star War' entirely, to bring the album length down by five minutes? Not that I think 'Star War' is bad of course, I just find it to be a little weaker than the rest of the tracks here. Either way, Wiped Out, like Rock Until You Drop, is as good as Raven get. I'll admit that I still lean slightly toward the debut, but this is purely down to preference. If you were to state this album was your favourite out of Raven's discography, I wouldn't argue with 'ya.
Being an adult has it's perks. Sure, I miss my school and college days sometimes, but I could only afford to buy a fraction of what I can afford to buy today. Wiped Out has been on a backlog of albums I wanted as a teen, but for whatever reason, never actually got around to purchasing. As a man in my late 20's, I finally picked up the 2018 Dissonance reissue, which comes nicely presented in a digipak case and features the three tracks from the Crash Bang Wallop EP as a bonus, although I heard the 1999 reissue also did the same thing. Either way, it's cool!
Adam's rating: 9.1/10
NOTHING EXCEEDS LIKE EXCESS 1988 (Century Media)
- Standouts: 'Die for Allah', 'Gimme a Break', 'Into the Jaws of Death', 'Lay Down the Law', 'You Gotta Screw Loose', 'Hard as Nails'
This was the first album to feature Pentagram drummer Joe Hasselvander, who subsequently stayed with Raven right up until 2017. No more hockey pad-sporting Rob 'Wacko' Hunter then, but Hasselvander does nothing to hinder this band. Put simply, Nothing Exceeds Like Excess is a rock-solid, tried-and-trusted heavy metal album that continues the Raven brand quite comfortably. After the silly, Spinal Tap-like introduction, 'Behemoth', is the ass-kickin' speed metaller 'Die for Allah', which in terms of it's riffs almost sports glimmers of Kill 'Em All-era, early Metallica - specifically 'Phantom Lord', which numerous other reviewers on the web have noted. 'Gimme a Break', 'Stick It' and 'You Gotta Screw Loose' however, are much more in line with classic Raven. Over-the-top, athletic metal baby! 'Into the Jaws of Death' brings the tempo down, and chugs along with it's riffage (although the pace does pick up later on in the track for a few brief moments). A little bit of a departure from the norm, but it does at least prove Raven can still get you headbanging when they slow things down a little. 'In the Name of the Lord' is more solid speed metal with some surprisingly melodic hooks scattered throughout. 'Lay Down the Law' features a killer, finger-tapped bass intro, and the rest of the track is very strong too. 'Thunderlord' is another heavy chugger while 'Hard as Nails' brings back the charm of classic albums such as Wiped Out and All for One.
I guess in terms of complaints, I'd have to point out that the whole underground NWOBHM vibes are gone by this point in time. The production is a bit sleeker than the likes of their early material, and thus, it's missing the 'live' feels of an album like Rock Until You Drop. There's nothing wrong with the production itself here - it sounds just fine, all the instruments can be heard quite clearly and the drum sound is cool, I suppose I just hoped it'd be a little rawer than it actually is. And even though this sounds more like Raven than anybody else, it isn't quite as fun as those early records. John Gallagher still sings the way you'd want him to sing, but there's definitely a little less of a punky attitude in his lyrics now. These aren't major problems though; this album is definitely consistent. Every track on here is decent. It's 100% legit heavy metal, no more, no less. I own the 1999 Century Media reissue CD which I picked up at one of the market stalls at Bloodstock festival one year... don't remember what year so it can't have been one of the more recent ones (been every year since 2010 - damn you COVID-19 for cancelling 2020's festival).
Adam's rating: 8/10
EVERYTHING LOUDER 1997 (SPV)
- Standouts: 'Blind Eye', 'Sweet Jane', 'Holy Grail', 'Hungry', 'Insane', 'Everything Louder', 'Wilderness of Broken Glass'
Erm, not really a whole lot to say about this one other than the fact it's Raven alright! The album cover sucks, true, and I guess you could say there's a couple of hints of more 'modern' metal traits scattered here and there throughout the CD; 'Sweet Jane' for example, has Mark Gallagher making use of pinched harmonics within some of the riffs... well, alright, punched harmonics are hardly 'modern' in terms of guitar playing techniques, but I don't think you'd have heard them back in the days of the NWOBHM. And obviously the production is light years ahead of what you heard in the early 80's, so it's not exactly the rawest slab of speed metal you'll ever hear. Plus, John ain't quite the same unpredictable wailer he used to be, opting for a slightly more calculated approach to his wailing, but the point is, the music's still great! I know they took a U-turn in the mid-80's, with albums like Stay Hard and The Pack is Back, but aside from those two records, Raven are one of the truest metal bands going. Listen to a song like 'Holy Grail' from this disc, and you'd think you're listening to to golden age Raven, albeit with more modern production values.
Adam's rating: 8.1/10
