RAVEN – Screaming Blue Murder in Aalborg

Raven are a three piece rock band from the North East who’ve been playing together for somewhere in the region of over forty-odd years, and still revolve around the nexus of the Gallagher brothers (no, not those ones, these guys can actually work together). Whilst Screaming Blue Murder… isn’t their first ‘live’ album, this particular album came as quite a surprise to Raven because, according to bassist John Gallagher, the band hadn’t realised the gig in Aalborg on the evening in question was even being recorded before an enthusiastic Danish audience but, after hearing the recording, stated “this is the best representation of us as a ‘live’ band”.  Just as well then …

They’ve been around seemingly forever but, despite their lack of any critical acclaim in the media, and none of their albums setting the charts alight, they’ve lost none of the firepower and aggression they were renowned for when they first exploded onto the late seventies metal scene. If you’re familiar with Raven’s music, you’ll know any new album such as this one will be a very highly primed, motorised set which charges along at a speed bands several years younger than these guys would be hard put to keep up with. These guys haven’t slowed down or mellowed as they enter their 60’s, they’re still metalheads to their very core.

There’s even a case for claiming they were the original speed metal band, before the term had even been thought of. Certainly, earlier albums such as Rock Til You Drop, All for One and Wipe Out have been cited as being the progenitors of genres such as speed metal / thrash metal. Tracks like fast, rocking album opener ‘Destroy All Monsters’ shows they can still play very fast, faster than the original recording of several years back, and on ‘Hung Drawn & Quartered’ they make a credible attempt to out-thrash Slayer. They’ve brought back a few old tunes they’ve not included in their set for over a decade, tracks such as ‘Hell Patrol’. The title track of their debut album, ‘Rock Til You Drop’, gets the crowd joining in, as does ‘On and On’.

The issue for a band like Raven is, despite their hyper stage presence and ability to remain connected to their fan base, they’ve never come up with that killer album / song that people who aren’t necessarily fans of the band would immediately recognise, which means they’re probably destined to remain a cult band in metal circles but, hey, there are worse fates out there.