I think Glow is an awesome album. A little different but not overly so (like The Pack Is Back).Pretty good tracks on it but to me the standouts are Spite and the cool ballad So Close. I don't own Destroy All Monsters but love the title of the cd with it's reference (I'm assuming) to the old Godzilla flick.

Movin' On...



1997 brought another new Raven studio album, EVERYTHING LOUDER, released via Zero Corporation in Japan. Once again, there was no U.S. release (and there still has never been one to this day) so I paid entirely too much $$ for this disc ($37.99 if memory serves, from a dealer at the '97 New Jersey KISS Expo) as an import. It was also released in Europe via Massacre Records.

EVERYTHING LOUDER is a more "back to basics" album than the dreary-at-times GLOW, kicking off with a typical Raven cruncher called "Blind Eye" that recalls their LIFE'S A B*TCH/NOTHING EXCEEDS discs, and includes some classic style speed burners like "Insane," "Get Your Finger Out," and "Losing My Mind." The title track is a vintage Raven anthem that reminds me of "Rock Until You Drop." In short, no matter what era of Raven you're into, you'll find something to your liking on this disc.

Raven's goofy sense of humor permeates the proceedings as well, with two short spoken word tracks called simply "???" and "!!!" which are just the band members reciting bits of B-movie dialogue, and an untitled "hidden track" at the end of the last song, which is the same goofy, repetitious riff being played over and over again for a minute or two. According to John Gallagher, that riff was a running gag during the recording of the album; the band would break into it any time one of them made a mistake so they threw it onto the end of the album strictly as a joke.

There's a note to fans from John Gallagher inside the CD booklet that sums up the album, and Raven's music in general, pretty perfectly if you ask me: "Trends may come and go, but music that makes you feel like there's a speed crazed ferret down yer trousers will always put the bite on you!"

Overall, EVERYTHING LOUDER is an album that may not rank amongst their classics but it's a good solid record that shows the band having fun again after a rough couple of years.

I am enjoying this thread I am learning alot about Raven's post 80's career that I lost track of.

Everything Louder is another fantastic release by Raven. Really,really good tunes on here (could do without !!! and ??? though). Favorite tracks are No Pain No Gain, Hungry,and Wilderness of Broken Glass.

Another rock solid Raven release. A return to the more spastic Raven sound.

Movin' on (again)....



RAW TRACKS was the first of two releases from Raven in 1999. (Shades of '70s era KISS!) RAW TRACKS is a compilation of previously unreleased bootleg, demo, and live material from the band's vaults and is described in the liner notes as "a box set without the ripoff." Originally the band's plan was to release a simple "best of" with a couple of demo/rare goodies tacked on as bonus tracks, but they dug up so much stuff while going through their archives that they eventually decided to go with a full blown compendium of "new" material. John G.'s message on the back cover of the booklet makes it clear that you shouldn't expect crystal clear, digital quality recordings here, saying "This is raw, undiluted RAVEN -- 90% of this stuff has been pulled from various tapes festering in our basements (I kid you not) and some serious emergency room tactics had to be used to bring'em back alive -- so any pops, clicks, hiss, etc. is part of the deal!"

Despite the rather "raw" quality of some of the material here, RAW TRACKS is an absolute treasure trove of neat stuff for the diehard Raven fan. The 19-track collection includes tons of live songs taped at various points throughout the band's career, plus a good number of demos and unreleased songs. My faves of these are the original 1984 demo of "Nightmare Ride" (which totally smokes the more polished version recorded later on THE PACK IS BACK), a STAY HARD-era leftover called "Barbarian," and a cover of "Move Over" by Janis Joplin (!), which was used as a practice/workout to break in then-new drummer Joe Hasselvander. There's also a cool "alternate version" of "The Savage and the Hungry" (later used on the LIFE'S A B*TCH album) and the silly hair-metal track "Hot Moves" which was recorded for a B-Movie soundtrack. The live songs vary in quality (some sound quite good, others are muffled, sub-bootleg quality) but are always interesting, particularly the trio of "Get It Right/On & On/Extract The Action" taped during the STAY HARD tour and a live rendition of "Youngblood" from THE PACK IS BACK -- i.e., songs the band rarely, if ever, plays live anymore. Also included are couple of cool leftovers from the DESTROY ALL MONSTERS live taping (that couldn't fit on the CD release due to time restraints) - "Altar" from GLOW and a rip-roaring take on Queen's "Tie Your Mother Down."

This disc probably wouldn't be a great place to start for those unfamiliar with the band but for longtime fans it's a hell of a cool "thank you note" from Raven for all the years of support. I have a Japanese copy (picked up for me by a friend who attended the first "March Metal Meltdown" festival in New Jersey, where Raven headlined the "NWOBHM night") and it includes a thick booklet packed with photos, lyrics, a history of the band written by John Gallagher, and notes from him providing details about each song. A very neat package all around.

Zero Corporation (Raven's Japanese label) closed its doors shortly after the release of RAW TRACKS (John Gallagher sez "story of our lives... we sign with a company and one of two things always happens: either they get sick of us, or they go out of business!"), but fortunately RAW TRACKS was picked up for U.S. distribution by Metal Blade Records, making it their first American release since NOTHING EXCEEDS LIKE EXCESS eleven years earlier. By this time, "old school" or "traditional" metal was making a return to prominence in the U.S. underground, and luckily Raven had stuck around long enough that the wheel finally came around for them again.

I haven't listened to this odds and sods collection in a loooong time. I'm gonna have to drag it out.

I have this on CD and like ULT it has been ages since I have listened to 'Raw Tracks', and it is the only Raven album I have on CD, the rest that I own are all on vinyl.

I love this CD, it is very very raw! It is like FF said a thank you for long time fans and the quality of the disc varies sometimes from bad to worse, but that is part of the charm of this cool little collector's item.

Raw Tracks was the first Raven release I had on cd (got it through BMG or Columbia House of all places) and it never did anything for me. I guess I was expecting something more out of it and the rawness threw me off (I suppose the title should have given me a clue).I got rid of it pretty quickly now I kinda wish I still had it.

Thanks to this thread I pulled 'Raw Tracks' and giving it a spin as I type this, and I have to say I am enjoying the hell out of it.

Crankin' Raw Tracks right now.

Thanks for the link as well.

ult

Following RAW TRACKS, Raven finished off the 90s with another studio album, ONE FOR ALL, released in Europe in late '99 via Massacre Records and 2000 in the U.S. via Metal Blade. This was the first Raven album in quite a few years that was not self produced by the band. Instead, their old friend Michael Wagener (who had not worked with them since the ALL FOR ONE and STAY HARD albums) was behind the boards. Having worked so well with the band previously, Wagener obviously knew the band's strengths, and he polished them up while knocking off a few rough edges. Therefore ONE FOR ALL sounds a bit more "focused" and perhaps a bit leaner and meaner than EVERYTHING LOUDER or GLOW.

The album kicks off with the hyperactive "Seven Shades" (which comes from a Geordie expression when someone's about to get beat up - they say they're going to "kick seven shades of sh*t" out of them) and cruises through another eleven bouts of good ol' fashioned Raven lunacy. The speedy, catchy, upbeat numbers like "Double Talk" (inspired by the mountains of record-label B.S. Raven has had to put up with over the years) and "Get Your Motor Running" (a "car song" similar to THE PACK IS BACK's "Nightmare Ride") are balanced out nicely by a couple of slow, brooding pounders like "To Be Broken" and "Last Ride." As ever, Mark Gallagher is in fine guitar-maniac form, and John's bass abuse and squealing vocal style sound just as youthful as ever. In other words, ONE FOR ALL is yet another solid Raven platter.

I was lucky enough to see Raven live for the second time while they were touring for this CD, once again it was a fantastic show and I was able to re-introduce myself to John Gallagher before the band went on. As I've said previously, he is by far the coolest metal musician I've ever had the honor of hangin' with.





Unfortunately, just as things appeared to be on the rise for Raven again, the band hit another roadblock after the release of ONE FOR ALL. While working on a remodeling project at his home, Mark Gallagher's legs were severely injured when a wall collapsed on him. Obviously all band activities stopped while Mark underwent a long recovery process, placing Raven on a forced hiatus while Mark endured a series of operations and physical therapies in order to save his legs. Raven would not make a return to the metal scene till the mid-2000's (and even then, Mark's legs were still in braces during thhe band's first few tentative live shows) but thankfully he eventually made a full recovery. ONE FOR ALL ended up being Raven's last studio album for a decade.

To be concluded....

Wow!!! I had no idea about Mark Gallagher went thru an accident, that could explain why the next time I saw a photo of him he looked so heavy, going from being active musician to one who is forced to go thru a long recovery process, I am glad to see that he is back in action and thanks to this thread another Raven CD added to my never ending want list.

An underrated album that didn't get the marketing push it needed. Most people by this time had assumed that Raven were long dead and gone. It's unfortunate because not only were they still kickin', but they were doing so with their boots on. One for All is another fantastic Raven CD.

One For All is another fantastic release by Raven that I didn't pick up until just a couple years ago. I have the Japanese version with the extra track Big Fat Mama,a funny but rockin' tune.

I'm curious to see what everyone has to say about their next one because it's one I've never heard.

This was going to be the WALK THROUGH FIRE entry (and thus the end of the Raven discography) but I've been having so much damn fun doing this thread that I figured I'd throw these compilations into the soup and extend its life for at least a few more days.

While Mark Gallagher recovered from his massive leg injuries, Raven kept their name alive during the '00s by releasing/repackaging some material from their past:



ALL SYSTEMS GO! THE NEAT ANTHOLOGY was a compilation released via Sanctuary Records in 2002 (I believe this was part of a series that also included a VENOM archives disc, and possibly one or two from other former Neat Records bands as well). I personally never bothered to pick this disc up since it consists solely of tracks from the first three albums (ROCK UNTIL YOU DROP, WIPED OUT and ALL FOR ONE) and I already own all of those albums. I hear the liner notes (by former Metal Forces magazine scribe Malcolm Dome, currently with Classic Rock mag) are very cool though.



2005 saw the release of Raven's first-ever DVD, FOR THE FUTURE, which is a short video of four live tracks shot in 1981-82 when Raven appeared on a BBC-TV music program. (I am not 100 percent sure but I think the YouTube clips I included with the WIPED OUT entry in this thread came from this video.) I have yet to see a copy of this DVD with my own eyes (and I honestly can't see myself laying out fifteen bucks or more for a DVD with only four songs on it) but if I ever come across it cheap I'll definitely add it to my collection. There have been rumblings for several years about a "real" Raven DVD which will be much more extensive in terms of live clips, interviews, etc., spanning their entire career (Mark G. was apparently working on it during his rehabilitation period in order to keep busy) but so far it has yet to surface.

By 2006 Mark was recovered enough that he and Raven were able to start playing occasional shows again, though one of his legs was in a brace at the time so obviously he couldn't jump around onstage as he usually did. Once the band got their "stage feet" back they began the process of coming up with songs for their long awaited new studio album.

Allll righty then, I think it's time to add the final chapter to this thread (for now)...



Raven's long, LONG awaited new studio album, WALK THROUGH FIRE, was initially released in Japan only (on the "King Records" label) in early 2009. After nearly a year of waiting (and resisting the urge to spend $40+ on a Japanese copy), my patience was rewarded when news came through that Metal Blade Records was going to be releasing the album in the U.S. Needless to say, I did the happy-banana dance and placed an order for it with Amazon as soon as it was available.

Was WALK THROUGH FIRE worth the wait? Oh, hell yeah! As soon as the first track, "Against the Grain," hits your speakers, it's like Raven never went away. There's nothin' fancy here, just good old fashioned Raven Lunacy at its finest. Mark's riffing didn't suffer at all during the band's long hiatus, John's bass abuse and squealing vox sound as youthful as ever, and Hasselvander, as ever, beats the ever lovin' hell out of the kit. Fave tracks include "Hard Road," "Trainwreck" and "Attitude." The cover version of Montrose's "Space Station #5" is killer as well.

The U.S. version of the album contains two exclusive tracks - live versions of the classics "Rock Until You Drop" and "Live at the Inferno." They're a nice touch (it's always cool when the U.S. version gets some bonus goodies) but I would've rather they dropped the live tracks and included the extra studio track, "Necessary Evil," that was included in the original Japanese version, but what the hell, you can't have everything.

Nothing more to say except that it is GREAT to finally have Raven back in action again and the band's faithful Lunatics will definitely not be disappointed with this one. Long live RAVEN!!!!





Hopefully we won't have to wait ten years for another studio album!!!

Great comeback for Raven after being out of business for almost 10 years!!!! An all around awesome release!!!!!

Excellent comeback after WAY to long away.

Excellent job, FF, I really enjoyed the hell of this thread you deserve two devil horns up!

Yeah!! Well Done