The British classic metal bands are back this year! Last time we reviewed Iron Maiden, Saxon will follow and this time, it’s RAVEN, the classic NWOBHM-lers. A band overlooked by the press, but not by metal history, as they’ve been very important for the Heavy/Speed genre. In fact, one of the first bands that supported them back in the day, was Metallica (“Kill Em All For One” tour).
They’ve kept on making records ever since, with their latest release being “Extermination” starting off with “Destroy All Monsters” and “Tomorrow”, two trademark metal tracks that would make many heads roll in their wake! “It’s Not What You’ve Got” is a more Hard Rock oriented track with driving rhythm and great chorus! “Fight” is another speed metal number with a slow part right after the middle, showing that the band is really in a mood to kick ass! A more mid-tempo and heavier headbanger comes up next called “Battle March/Tank Treads (The Blood Runs Red)” with a great chorus and darker atmosphere.
Things speed up with the concert-made metal-praising “Feeding The Monster” with its memorable chorus and full speed ahead attitude! Then the tremolo kicks in to welcome the groovy “Fire Burns Within” with lots of headbanging to be done! The groove goes on with the next one “Scream” speeding a little bit more. What follows is the midtempo “One More Day” and “Thunder Down Under” with their rockin’ attitude.
Then, the acoustic instrumental “Golden Dawn” breaks the riff-o-rama before going into the groovy “Silver Bullet” and the ballad-esque and dark “River Of No Return”. Even though it clocks just under an hour of music, “Extermination” isn’t tiresome to listen to. In fact, it gives a classic metal fan everything he could ever ask for, under a stellar production!
Some classic bands never lose their ability to write great albums (Saxon, Accept, Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest etc.), Raven proves to be one of them!
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