Athletic Rock
Steamhammer/SPV
September 30th 2022
Line Up:
John Gallagher – Bass/Vocals
Mark Gallagher – Guitar
Mike Heller – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – Top Of The Mountain
2 – Metal City
3 – The Power
4 – Destroy All Monsters
5 – Battle March/Tank Treads (The Blood Runs Red)
6 – Crash Bang Wallop (Live)
7 – Necessary Evil
8 – Space Station #5
9 – Malice In Geordieland
10 – Bad Reputation
11 – Rock This Town
12 – Stay Hard (Live)
Raven – the purveyors of ‘athletic rock’ spawned the thrash and speed metal movement in the early ’80s influencing all those rabid metalheads from across the pond to grab their guitars and make some noise. Raven got kind of left behind as the big four and others became household names but that doesn’t mean they’re not legendary or that their music stands the test of time or even that they can’t still do what they did 40 years ago with the same passion, speed, and aggression.
Here we have a retrospective of the last seven years according to Bassist/singer John Gallagher with tracks from their most recent albums – ‘Metal City’ and ‘ExterimiNation’ plus ‘Crash, Bang, Wallop’ a live track from 2019’s ‘Screaming Murder Death From Above’. Bonus tracks include ‘Necessary Evil’ which was one of the first songs recorded after guitarist Mark Gallagher’s accident where a six-meter wall fell on him. It took Mark over two years to recover and the track was included in their 2009 effort ‘Walk Through Fire’. Included are a couple of excellent covers with Montrose’s ‘Space Station #5’ and Thin Lizzy’s ‘Bad Reputation’. There’s some fun with ‘Malice In Geordieland’ plus more bonus tracks – ‘Rock This Town’ recorded live in the studio in Nashville and produced by Michael Wagener in 2018 plus a live version of ‘Stay Hard’ from a gig at The Vanguard in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2017 which was secretly recorded by a member of the Vanguard staff and given to the band on a USB stick.
Another stop-gap album by a metal legend that keeps us going until a new one appears. Hopefully, it won’t be long – barring any accidents!
Score: 7/10
Reviewed by: Smudge
About Author
- Metal Legend
- Thrash
- Speed
- John Gallagher
- 7
