Metal City

Raven released an album, ExtermiNation, back in 2015, but it never clicked with me. I downloaded the songs, but that thing clocked in over an hour... and by the end of it I all I could think about was how much I just wanted to listen to something else. It wasn't terrible, but I just couldn't invest the time into it. When Raven released Metal City last year, it barely made a blip on my record radar. I knew the record was out there, but I wasn't in any rush to check it out.

There were a number of old metal bands that released top notch records last year, so I was curious as to how the new Raven album stacked up and I decided to give it a shot on Spotify. Surprisingly, Metal City is a ton of fun. The album is only 40 minutes long, and the songs are quick and catchy. I couldn't believe how much fun I was having listening to the album, and I grabbed the vinyl for it.

The cover is goofy as hell with it's comic book theme, and doesn't do a damn thing to help sell this album on me. Thankfully the songs are strong enough to help me get past it. Given how much I'm enjoying Metal City, I may have to go back and give ExtermiNation another chance.

Don't Want No Rich Fat Daddy

I never really set out to collect Raven. The albums were obviously essential, but the early singles were never on my radar. When I bought the Crash Bang Wallop 12 inch, all that changed.

I was first made aware of Raven's first 7 inch, Don't Need Your Money, through the Living Fast debut, where Ryan Waste interviews John Gallagher. During their conversation, they mention these early recordings, and Ryan flashes a copy of the record cover. I'd never done any homework on the early Raven vinyl releases, and this was the first time I'd known this record existed. That record cover looked so cool, and primitive with it's black and white photo and white lettering. It seemed almost...ummm...Hardcore, and I knew then that I wanted a copy. The problem was that since it was an early Neat Records release, and carried huge historical significance from those early days of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, well, I just assumed that it was rare and an expensive record, and I didn't pursue it.

Fast forward to this month, when I'm digging around on Discogs for pressing info on the Crash Bang Wallop record, and I discover that those early Raven singles actually sell for dirt cheap. At that point, I'm all in, and I go on a buying spree grabbing whatever is available.

Unlike the Don't Need Your Money 7 inch, the Hard Ride single is boring as fuck to look at. Damn, someone didn't want to put much effort into the design of this one. Oh well, for five dollars, I'm not going to let it pass me by, and I added it to the collection.

My final impulse buy was the Break The Chain 7 inch from 1983. I don't know man, Metal 7 inches are fucking cool. I've always just focused on the band's albums, and never given much thought to the singles, but owning these three records shines a whole new light on everything.

NEAT06, NEAT11, and NEAT28.

Okay Neat, what other trouble can we get up to.

Crash Bang Wallop

When I first started this blog almost nine years ago, I wrote about some Raven odds and ends that most people wouldn't care about. The records were pretty far removed from what would be considered Raven's classic period...well beyond those early years with Neat Records. Since falling into a cycle of early 80's Metal this past year, I started digging back into the Raven catalog, and it dawned on me that I was missing some of their more crucial records.

When I started researching the pressing info for those early Raven records, I was surprised to find colored vinyl options for the Crash Bang Wallop EP...and once I made this discovery, I needed to own a copy. There were options of purple vinyl, yellow vinyl, black vinyl, and a few different labels for each...and because of my love for pressing variations, and I couldn't get enough of Raven, I wanted them all. Cooler heads prevailed though, and since I still didn't own Raven's Wiped Out LP, I figured it was foolish to buy multiple copies of Crash Bang Wallop.

A copy on purple marble colored vinyl will have to do...for now.

All For Megaforce

A couple months ago, the backlog on this blog was almost cleaned up. I probably had 3 or 4 records in the queue to blog about, and was feeling like I was on top of things. Then I got too comfortable. I slacked off on the number of posts I was putting up here, and before I knew it, my pile of incoming records grew. Sitting here today, the backlog is back to over 20 posts. Seems I can't take my foot off the gas for a second.

I was torn when it came to collecting Raven. On the one hand, I wanted to collect the original UK pressings on Neat, but since I've been working on my Megaforce silver label collection, I knew which one was going to win out for All For One. I suppose if I ever get to the point of building up a Neat collection, I guess I'll add an additional copy of this one.

While I enjoy most of Raven's stuff, this third album would be considered one of their last great classics. "Solid as a rock with swords in the air"!