Raven

Raven stood among the earliest and most pivotal acts to emerge from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, their stripped-down, rugged approach helping lay groundwork for thrash metal’s ascent even though the members chose to brand their high-octane, body-driven style “athletic rock,” partly because they took the stage in sports apparel. Arriving at the close of the 1970s, the Newcastle unit channeled the raw urgency and unbridled force that defined the movement and rode its momentum with the 1981 release Rock Until You Drop, still regarded as a cornerstone of the genre. Struggling to fit the glossy pop-metal climate of the decade, they later reclaimed the straightforward, high-voltage denim-and-leather aesthetic that first earned them notice. Enduring injuries, personnel shifts, and changing musical currents, the band remained active well into the following century, delivering their thirteenth studio album, ExtermiNation, in 2015 while upholding their status as an explosive live attraction; that effort was succeeded by the concert document Screaming Murder Death from Above: Live in Aalborg in 2019. Metal City arrived the next year. In 2023 the group returned with All Hell’s Breaking Loose on Silver Lining Music.

The Gallagher brothers—Mark on guitar and backing vocals, John on bass and lead vocals—launched Raven in Newcastle, England, in 1974. After months of rehearsal alongside guitarist Paul Bowden, the trio enlisted drummer Paul Sheriff and began performing locally. Mike “Mick” Kenworthy took over the drum stool in 1976, followed a year later by Sean Taylor. When Bowden departed in 1979, Pete Shore joined on guitar, and later that same year Rob “Wacko” Hunter replaced Taylor behind the kit.

By then Raven had become a regular draw at northern English rock venues, prompting the fledgling Newcastle metal imprint Neat Records to offer the band a recording deal. Their debut, Rock Until You Drop, surfaced in 1981 as Neat’s first LP by a single artist; by release the group had reverted to a power-trio lineup following Shore’s exit. After Wiped Out appeared in 1982, Raven secured a U.S. contract with Megaforce Records and, while promoting 1983’s All for One, made their initial American tour with a young California thrash outfit named Metallica opening the shows.

Relocating to New York City in 1985, the band signed with Atlantic Records. Stay Hard brought commercial gains, yet longtime supporters found both that album and its 1986 follow-up, The Pack Is Back, overly glossy compared with earlier material. Life’s a Bitch, issued in 1987, struck many listeners as a welcome return to the band’s heavier roots and proved to be Raven’s final Atlantic release. Nothing Exceeds Like Excess came out on the independent Combat label the next year, introducing new drummer Joe Hasselvander, previously of Pentagram. Although Combat soon folded, a durable partnership with German imprint SPV enabled Raven to keep recording and touring through the 1990s, producing Architect of Fear in 1991, Glow in 1994, and Everything Louder in 1997 while crisscrossing Europe, Japan, and the United States.

The group pressed on with One for All in 2000, only to pause for several years after Mark Gallagher suffered crushed legs in a wall collapse. Refusing to quit, the musicians resumed U.S. dates in 2004 with Gallagher performing from a wheelchair. Fully recovered by 2006, they resumed full activity; Walk Through Fire emerged in 2009, and in 2014 the tireless travelers shared a stage once more with Metallica, supporting the headliners before 70,000 fans in São Paulo, Brazil.

ExtermiNation surfaced in 2015. SPV Steamhammer documented a subsequent performance with Screaming Murder Death from Above: Live in Aalborg in 2019. Between tours Raven entered the studio again, releasing Metal City in September 2020; the album, recorded by Michael Wagener and mixed and mastered by Zeuss, appeared on worldwide streaming charts. Early in 2023 the band aligned with Silver Lining Music, and that October All Hell’s Breaking Loose was issued—a ten-song collection written and produced entirely by the group.