Raven - Rock Until You Drop
#576
By Robert Sliger
October 1981
Raven
Rock Until You Drop
Genre: A Motley Judas Nugent walks into an Iron Saxon and comes out unscathed
Allen’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Robert’s Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0
Tracks
Hard Ride *
Hell Patrol *
Don’t Need Your Money
Over the Top
39/40
For the Future
Rock Until You Drop *
Nobody’s Hero
Hell Raiser/Action *
Lambs to the Slaughter *
Tyrant of the Airwaves
Wiped Out (not on the original album)
Crazy World (not on the original album)
* Highlights
Members:
John Ryan Gallagher (8-string bass [!!!], vocals)
Mark Gallagher (guitar, vocals)
Rob “Whacko” Hunter ([left-handed!!!] drums, percussion, vocals)
Produced by Steve Thompson (producer/mixer/engineer of an incredible variety of artists, from Alphaville to Sheena Easton, The Rolling Stones to Celine Dion, Korn to Missing Persons—and still working today)
Engineered by Mickey Sweeney
I’ll make this short and simple: if you like British (non “hair”) metal and you’re not familiar with Raven, you’ll want to check this one out. While critics almost universally panned their later output, this trio from Newcastle, UK, discovered and nailed down the debut album’s metal formula. I think Rock Until You Drop is one of the great sleeper metal albums of all time. (I would rate this higher if it weren’t for the reductive nature of heavy metal music of the period. My inner headbanger likes this a lot more than my outer hoity-toity intellectual does.)
As a heavy metal album, with all the trappings of the genre, this one checks nearly all the boxes:
Shouty sing-alongs
Neck-snapping head banging
Hooks for days
Double entendres (though surprisingly restrained here)
32nd-note guitar-monkey solos
32nd-note triplet drum fills
Recorded-in-a-closet sonics
Prodigious commitment
Rock Until You Drop is heavily influenced by Judas Priest (what metalhead wasn’t in the late 70s/early 80s?), with some of Saxon’s heavier feel, Iron Maiden’s propulsive syncopation and lightning velocity, with a sprinkling of Ted Nugent’s southern boogie machismo. All in, it works better than maybe my description does. Heavy metal gives simple, predictable pleasures to listeners (see trappings bullet points above). Given how outstanding Raven was at providing these, I’m shocked this album didn’t do better on American radio charts. KMET, El Lay’s progressive rock/heavy metal radio station, played the title track, but little else until “On and On” came out as a single four years later.
At least the band delivered the goods for those who followed them (like my older brother, who really dug them). John Gallagher’s fluid Geddy Lee-like bass lines impress but are buried in the sludgy sound typical of UK metal records of the period (you know who you are, Martin Birch [RIP]). Guitarist Mark Gallagher fares much better, with his stinging guitar tone and volcanic riffs careening across the entire soundstage. Holding it all down is Rob Hunter’s drums, who’s as virtuosic as any of his contemporaries (and arguably more imaginative than the 32nd-note-tom-fills-for-days-with-little-else Nicko McBrain of Iron Maiden. These dudes were tight, and best of all, you could tell they were having a blast making this record.
So, if you’re a metalhead (or want to know what one is) and have not listened to Raven’s Rock Until You Drop, turn it on, turn it up, and try to keep your head attached to your neck. Your body will thank you. Not so sure about your ears.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7vowWR7ZnvZq4iJb2FHppA?si=Vmb4HViVQqmB9yqlSno87A
