15. Raven All for One 1983 (Neat)
Speed metal
Athletic speed served up all raw and juicy.
The Lowdown
Raven were typical purveyors of the rough 'n' ready speed metal attitude that was typical in the UK and had issued their third album
All for One on August 1983, after having released a few years earlier their debut album
Rock Until You Drop. This is an album I always think of as being one of the first bona fide speed metal albums out there (see review) Their second album
Wiped Out despite gaining a number of plaudits, didn't make my 1982 list as it's an album I always enjoyed less than the two albums either side of it.
Rock Until You Drop is often regarded as the band's best album, but
All for One is the one I'd certainly go with as it's their most aggressive and most exciting outing, making it another one of those speed/thrash metal albums of the year that straddled the speed metal and thrash metal line, making it essential listening along with Venom, Savatage, Exciter, Tank and almost anything by Anvil as the perfect auderb for the main thrash dish that was soon served up.
All for One is a great album thanks to its manic opening barrage of tracks headed up by "Take Control" which really combines the beef of the NWOBHM with a more aggressive tone, that was being put out by bands like Anvil and results in being one of the best tracks in the whole Raven discography. Second and sixth track "Mind Over Metal" and "Hung Drawn & Quartered" sound like a manic metal throw-up, that would even have the likes of Dave Mustaine struggling to cover their manic rantings... hell this is really explosive stuff being dished out here by the band! You also know that this is a quality album when late album tracks sound as great as "Seek and Destroy" which has a song title that sounds like a perfect thrash offering and "Athletic Rock" a name that the band used at this time to describe their own sound is no slouch either. Songs like "Sledgehammer Rock" are placed perfectly, as they enable the band to take their feet off the accelerator and slow things down a tad, without ever losing anything of the album's raw power outage. The album also displays across a number of its tracks like "Take it Away" amongst others, a tendency to work with a strong chorus, hinting that the band weren't exactly world away from glam metal in that respect. There are certain songs that don't work despite their energy, like the title track "All for One" which despite its pounding chorus, has the band touching a bit on the inane side of things. I'm undecided on "Break the Chain" which on some listens comes across as a simplistic glam metal track but on another listen it sounds like a standout album cut. Brothers Gallagher both John and Mark sound razor sharp here along with drummer Rob Hunter who doesn't seem to miss a beat over an explosive 40 minutes of speed and aggression. Despite this being a proto-thrash album of sorts, our Geordie trio smack of humour as opposed to the aggression that would be put out by thrash (Anthrax aside) and show that this music could've relied on the lighter aspects of subject matter as much as its more brutal side, as long as the lighter side didn't tilt too much into ludicrous sounding territory. A future re-issue of the album would include three bonus tracks that were highlighted by a cover, of the much covered song "Born to Be Wild" which featured a guest vocal spot by Udo Dirkscheneider of Accept.
All for One would also be the band's last recording for the fledgling Newcastle based Neat label that did so much for NWOBHM bands from that region, as after this the band would go up a league after signing with a major label in Atlantic, sadly though this would also see a reduction quality wise in the band's future recordings. In hindsight the career of Raven seems somewhat disappointing, because of all the British NWOBHM bands out there, they come across as one of the bands that really could've emulated the very best American thrash metal bands that were flowering around this time.
John Gallagher- Bass/Vocals
Mark Gallagher- Guitar
Rob Hunter- Drums
Production- Michael Wagener