Raven - Rock until you Drop

A normal day at band practice, is it?

"It sounds like we're actually in hell!"
Thus starts the most energetic album in recorded history.

Ravens debut from 81' then kicks of with a powerful riff, a falsetto shout of "ALRIIIIGHT!" and a high-speed riff with both blues and thrash qualities to it. This is indicative of what the album is about. Blues riffs, with a, then,  innovative thrashing edge, that no one else had. "Hell Patroll" was probably some of the most brutal music out there at the time. It's sudden changes, barrage of riffs, and intense rasping falsetto screams leaves the listener with no way of not headbanging at maximum speed. The falsettos of Mr.Gallagher is also shown to be of highest quality when i comes to lung capacity, as near the end of the song, all the instruments pause, as the vocalist holds a high falsetto for something that seems like an eternity.

The next song is one of the best songs on the album. "don't need your money" has a catchy melodic speed/thrash riff, and some of the most sing-along friendly chorus on the album. The guitar is also hyperactive in providing little melodic licks everywhere. these little shreds are the little boost that gives the song "that little extra" to make it truly great.

The two next songs are the bluesy "over the top" and the acoustic, one minute, piece "39-40". around the 30 second mark of the song, there is a passage of chords,(Here) later directly copied by Metallica on their mega-hit "Nothing else matters". This could of course be totally random, as certain combinations of chords sound good, but the fact that Metallica was opening band for Raven around 83 (PROOF!) would suggest that it stuck, and resurfaced during the writing of the black album, almost 10 years later.
The next song also suffered a simmilar fate. The intro and chorus riff  was copied by the Humorous World of Warcraft band: L70ETC (now probably named L80ETC) on their popular song: I am Murloc (Comparisition)

Nobodies hero is another high speed song, with a catchy chorus and a bluesy bass line.

Next up is a cover of the band "Sweet", or actually, two covers in one song, namely Hellraiser/action. The songs are very fitting for raven to cover, as the style of music of these songs, clearly was a great influence on the band, and the vocals really suit the style of Gallagher, who does his best performance of the album on this track. The interweaving of the tracks are also very seamless, and if one does not know the originals, it is hard to tell where one song ends, and the next one begin.

"Lambs to the slaughter" is another high speed track, with some of the best drum markings on the album. but this one drowns slightly among the other high speed songs.

Finally, "Tyrant of the airwaves" is a relatively mid-paced song with a nice build-up, and the most impressive use of guitar licks on the album. The vocals is relatively low, and in the mid-range, except for a couple of dramatic screams. This song has a strong feel of focus and streamlining, and is rather indicative of how raven would evolve on the sub-sequent albums. This one would slip nicely into their third album: All for One.

This sums it up as one of the strongest releases of NWOBHM and a deserved 9.5/10

Raven - Rock until you drop
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