Raven
All for One

Destructive compactness without equal, hysterical vocal shocks at full throttle that faithfully accompany the increasingly hard&heavy riffs and artificial harmonics scattered like Mark Gallagher's sharp razor blades, punctual and always cunning rhythm section converge to build yet another whirling rock creature from the best headbanging machine the planet, alas, sadly struggles to recognize. All For One, the third effort of Raven, aims for the usual jaw-breaking intent, to destroy, make a hellish racket electrifying with few elementary ingredients, wisely mixed, and forcefully enter your veins, with its usual athletic and carefree indifference. The approach that this time the energetic trio puts into action is decidedly metal-oriented, with openly hard & metal veins that repeatedly recall certain breaks of the best AC/DC and Judas Priest tradition, revised through the adrenaline-charged vision of the English combo, which decisively personalizes it.

It starts with the fireworks of the pressing opening track "Take Control", which comes like a blinding lightning bolt to split the eardrums and engage, bastard as usual driven by the manic hammering of the nutcase Wacko behind the drums and by the two Gallagher brothers, increasingly thirsty for rock with a capital R, the kind of diveRtimento, of sweaT, of carefRee and whatever else is damnably immediate and compelling. And the adrenaline pours like rivers passing from riff to riff, and it’s honestly hard to choose among the various pieces which is the best. Superb the riff in "Mind Over Metal", a sort of open-faced sonic assault, with a well-crafted and decidedly catchy solo, and the subsequent "Sledgehammer Rock", a splendid and truly impressive example of how melody and power can be united. They progressively charm the unabashed title track "All For One" in its solo and its progression, the granite "Run Silent, Run Deep", ingenious in its spectral central sound solution, the suffocating ride "Hung, Drawn and Quartered", the street-wise "Break The Chain", and lower down, overwhelmed like by a torrent in full, to the pressing and roaring "Seek And Destroy", the platter's gem along with that "Athletic Rock", a true, sincere and biting musical witness of this relentless eardrum-churning machine.

P.S. : Usually, I don't like to dwell on the bonus tracks that find their place on the reissues of these unknown masterpieces of the past, but in the Spitfire reissue of "All For One"  there is the entire EP "Break The Chain", dated 1983, where ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing less than the cover of "Born To Be Wild", infernal, super tight and acidic, thanks also to the intervention of Udo Dirkschneider, singer and founder of Accept, once more demonstrating that certain lessons of the past are fundamental.

Are you ready to bleed?

See Ya!