13. Raven Rock Until You Drop 1981 (Neat)
Speed Metal
Fast & furious and with a fusillade of instruments.
Album
Like fellow Geordies Venom, Raven were another band to appear on the fledgling Neat label, but whereas Venom gave us breakneck speed with dark malice, Raven were simply just speed merchants with a rough ‘n’ ready attitude. The band were a metal trio fronted by brothers John Gallagher-bass/vocals, Mark Gallagher-guitar and Rob ‘Wacko’ Hunter-drums. It always seems amazing just how many metal bands at this time had adopted a three man line-up along the lines of Motorhead and it just goes to show how influential Motorhead were at this time, not just in musical terms but also in both image and band personnel! Over the course of this journal I’ve often mentioned how this song and that song by bands such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and more recently from the likes of Motorhead and Saxon etc were largely responsible for what would become known as ‘Speed Metal’ which of course is metal played at a blistering pace usually by highly proficient musicians. But unlike its far meaner thrash brother, it was far less abrasive and relied more on melody than on hardcore and in many ways I’d actually call Raven’s debut the first bona fide speed metal album that incorporates everything essential about the sub-genre, the band though usually just referred to their own style though by the now redundant term of ‘Athletic Rock’. Every track except the acoustic shorty “39-40” qualifies as fully fledged speed metal or almost an speed metal track. Singles like “Hard Ride” and “Don’t Need Your Money” are good single choices and “Hell Patrol” is a real belter highlighted by the high notes of John Gallagher. The album essentials are probably “Over the Top” “For the Future” “Lambs to the Slaughter” “Tyrants of the Airways” and the vital title track “Rock Until You Drop” with its guitar and bass solos. Raven were all about being a good time speed metal band and this can be noted throughout most of the album’s songs, especially with their cover of the Sweet medley “Hellraiser/Action” which actually sounds like it could’ve been on the soundtrack for the Rocky Horror Show! The real crux of the matter though for many when it comes to Raven, are surely the vocals of John Gallagher whose ‘throttled sounding screams’ and not exactly a world away from Dave Mustaine and might not be to everybody’s taste. Overall
Rock Until You Drop is a straight-forward NWOBHM album that just happens to be one of the first true speed metal albums out there and there is an extended version of the album which runs upto 57 minutes as well. Even though Raven fails to gain the same type of attention as the better known Motorhead and Venom, I’m pretty certain that a number of future speed and thrash metal bands took their cue from these early Raven albums. Finally Raven were just one of the many NWOBHM bands on the Newcastle based Neat label at this time (Neat pre-dates the even more expansive Metal Blade) and this was a label that was instrumental in the promotion of heavy metal in the UK, and was responsible for giving bands like Venom, Raven, Jaguar, Cloven Hoof and Tygers of Pan Tang amongst others their initial break, in fact the label was owned by the original vocalist of the Tygers of Pan Tang Jess Cox until he sold it in 1995.