Raven’s All Hells Breaking Loose is another winner from brothers John and Mark Gallagher who have kept the show on the road for approaching fifty years now.
Going all the way back to 1981 for their debut album, being there at the start of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal days blasting away with their brand of “athletic rock” on such early albums as Rock Until You Drop and Wiped Out.
Here we are in 2023 with the Raven as energetic and heavy as ever. All Hell’s Breaking Loose is a typical Raven album. Hard, fast, heavy, breathless and uncompromising. And oh so enjoyable.
An unrelenting battering ram of rifferama, blazingly brutal soloing and a thunderous drumming assault from Mike Heller. The band leave nothing in the studio. All the energy goes on to the album and does not relent.
Medieval kicks it off in monstrous, irresistible style blazing away with the unrelenting riff, light speed solo and the unmistakably Raven style vocals.
Songs such as Surf the Tsunami and Turn the Screw keep the pace well up even managing to find space for some catchy melody to mix in.
The title track is a monster too. How does John Gallagher sometimes hit notes so high the pitch is almost too high for human hearing range? Not too shabby for a bloke is his mid-60s. Have a listen:
There’s no messing about. Raven don’t do that. What they do (and have done all their career) is thump out short, to the point, fast and heavy songs with a touch of tongue in cheekiness about them and without them falling in to a trap of making them sound formulaic and samey.
Their style works for them and they know how to make it work. Not only NWOBHM-era survivors, Raven can lay claim to have influenced many a speed/thrash metal band too.
All Hell’s Breaking Loose shows the Gallaghers’ remain at the top of their game with no signs of slowing down. Quite some achievement after five decades eh?