RAVEN – Vinyl LP Albums Gallery & Discography: The NWOBHM Sleeves That Still Hit Like a Starter Pistol #raven

RAVEN Band Description:

RAVEN never sounded like they were trying to be “important.” They sounded like a Newcastle power trio trying to outrun its own amplifier stack. Formed in 1974 by the Gallagher brothers, John (vocals/bass) and Mark (guitar), they were already grafting speed onto hard rock before anyone bothered to pin the NWOBHM label on the scene. And live? They didn’t “perform” so much as detonate.

History:

The early years weren’t glamorous. Local pubs, working men’s clubs, and the kind of rooms where the floor sticks to your shoes. Raven cut their teeth there, and they didn’t mind sharing oxygen with punk bills either. That matters, because you can hear it: the impatience, the shove, the refusal to stay polite.

By January 1981 they had their first full-length, "Rock Until You Drop", out on Neat Records, with Rob "Wacko" Hunter on drums for that early classic run. "Don't Need Your Money" snaps with that hungry, no-nonsense attitude, and the band barely pauses for breath across the record. Then came the quick one-two: "Wiped Out" (1982) and "All for One" (1983). The 1983 U.S. dates are the stuff of scene folklore now, because Raven headlined Metallica’s first national tour and introduced a lot of people to a new kind of speed.

Musical Style:

Raven’s thing isn’t “a blend” so much as a collision. Riffs sprint. Drums punch holes in the air. John’s bass doesn’t politely support the guitar; it shoves it forward. They could lock into a chorus when they wanted to, but they always sounded like they might kick the tempo up just to see who falls over first.

Listen to "Faster Than the Speed of Light" and "Crash Bang Wallop" if you want the grinning, reckless side of Raven, and "Rock Until You Drop" when you want the mission statement carved into vinyl. Later, "On and On" (from "Stay Hard", 1985) is the one people keep calling a “hit,” which makes sense: it’s got that big, sticky hook without sanding all the edges off.

Impact:

Raven didn’t just “influence thrash” in some academic way. They showed, in real time, that metal could move like a street fight. You can hear that lesson echoing through early ’80s speed-and-thrash thinking, especially once American bands started treating tempo like a weapon instead of a setting.

These days the Gallagher brothers are still at it, with drummer Mike Heller behind the kit since 2017. I like that. Some bands age into nostalgia. Raven age into momentum. Also, minor personal anchor: every time I’m hauling grocery bags up the stairs and my brain starts complaining, some part of me hears that Raven tempo and goes, “Quit whining. Keep moving.”

References

Timeline

Around 1983/1984 Raven moved from Newcastle to New York City.

RAVEN has released the following full-length albums during the period 1980-1991:

1981 Rock Until You Drop , Raven - First full length album
1982 Wiped Out, Raven - Second full length album, released 3 June 1982
1983 All for One, Raven - "All For One" is the third full length album of Raven and is their first album to be recorded in the USA.
1984 Live at the Inferno (Live album), Raven - "Live at the Inferno" is the live album by the heavy metal band Raven. It was released in 1984.
1985 Stay Hard, Raven - "Stay Hard" is the fourth full-length album by the British heavy metal band Raven, released in 1985. It is the first album recorded in the United States for the major label Atlantic Records, after the British band had passed under American management. Source: wikipedia
1986 Mad (EP), Raven
1986 The Pack Is Back, Raven
1987 Life's a Bitch, Raven
1988 Nothing Exceeds Like Excess, Raven
1991 Architect of Fear, Raven
1991 Heads Up! (EP), Raven

John Gallagher: The Driving Force of Raven

Mini Biography:

John Gallagher is one of those frontmen who never looked like he was auditioning for “legend” status. He just got on with it. Newcastle-born, bass strapped on, voice set to maximum bite, he and his brother Mark started Raven in 1974 and kept pushing it forward when a lot of their peers turned into comfortable museum pieces.

The early Raven grind wasn’t glamorous: pubs, working men’s clubs, and the kind of nights where the band learns songs from shouted requests and bad lighting. John has talked about punters handing up beermats with demands like Judas Priest and Deep Purple, and sometimes something less musical and more… local football rivalry. That’s the real apprenticeship. You don’t get “stage presence” from reading about it.

His playing is the tell. It isn’t polite bass. It moves, it argues, it drags the riff forward by the collar. And his taste has always been wider than the lazy “NWOBHM template”: he’s cited bass players like John Entwistle (The Who), Geddy Lee (Rush), Andy Fraser (Free), and Gary Thain (Uriah Heep) as early compass points, which explains why Raven can sound fast and still feel musical instead of just frantic.

Song-wise, he’s the voice and the shove behind staples like "Crash Bang Wallop", "Don't Need Your Money", and "On and On"—the kind of tracks that don’t so much “build” as they kick the door open. My quiet anchor with John is boring but honest: when I’m cleaning records and I start taking it too seriously, a Raven riff in my head reminds me this stuff is supposed to live, not sit there like a trophy.

These days he’s still very much in the fight, splitting time between Newcastle and Florida, and still talking like someone who wants the next record to hit harder than the last. Good. Metal doesn’t need more polite speeches. It needs people like John who keep the engine loud and slightly dangerous.

References

Mark Gallagher: The Riff Master of Raven

Mini Biography:

Mark Gallagher isn’t the sort of guitarist who looks like he wants a trophy. He looks like he wants the next riff to land harder than the last one. Newcastle born, wired into that North East grind, he started Raven with his brother John back in 1974, and they never really stopped thinking like fans who got tired of waiting for someone else to play the right kind of loud.

The brothers have talked about the early spark in plain terms: watching bands like Slade and Status Quo live and thinking, “Three guys. Really into it. That’s the whole point.” You can hear that logic in Mark’s playing. He doesn’t decorate songs; he drives nails through them. Tight, fast, and slightly unhinged in the best way, like the amp is always one click from falling off the stage.

Put on "Wiped Out" (1982) and you get the evidence in the grooves: “Faster Than the Speed of Light” comes out swinging, and “Star War” has that wiry, charging momentum Raven do so well. Mark’s riffs don’t politely “support” the band. They shove it forward. And yes, I’m biased: I’ll take this kind of lean, hungry riff-craft over a thousand sterile “look what my fingers can do” solos.

The bit people forget is how hard he had to fight just to keep doing it. In 2001 a wall collapsed on him at a building site and crushed his legs, and Raven went quiet for years while he clawed his way back. He came back anyway. That alone tells you what sort of stubborn engine is running under the hood here.

Quiet personal anchor: whenever I catch myself tapping a rhythm on the kitchen counter like an idiot, it’s usually one of Mark’s riffs my hands are trying to chase. Not because it’s “iconic.” Because it moves. And it dares you to keep up.

References

Rob "Wacko" Hunter: The Athletic Powerhouse Behind Raven's Drumkit

Mini Biography:

Rob "Wacko" Hunter is the reason people used to describe Raven as “athletic rock” with a straight face. Not because it sounded cute on a flyer, but because there he was behind the kit in sports gear, turning a heavy metal show into something that looked like a contact sport. Helmet. Pads. Sweat. The whole point of Raven, in one moving target.

He joined in 1979, when the band had already been grinding for years and the drummer seat had seen more turnover than a pub door. The Gallaghers have told the story plainly: they put an ad in a local music store, got pointed toward Rob, jammed, and it clicked immediately. Not a polite “audition.” More like: the room suddenly made sense.

Once he was in, the classic Raven engine locked into place. That early run hits hard because it feels like three people trying to outrun their own amps: "Rock Until You Drop" (1981), "Wiped Out" (1982), "All for One" (1983). Wacko doesn’t “support” those records. He shoves them. Snare cracks like a starter pistol. Cymbals flare and vanish. If you like drums that sound like they might break something important, congratulations, you’re home.

The stage persona wasn’t theater. It was pressure-release. John Gallagher has even said the helmet-and-character thing both helped and boxed Rob in, which is the kind of honest admission most band bios avoid. My personal anchor is simple: every time I play "Wiped Out", my brain automatically pictures that helmet and thinks, “Yeah… this is not background music.” It never was.

Hunter left in late 1987, after the tour for "Life's a Bitch", stepping away to focus on family life. After that, he didn’t just fade into trivia-night questions. He pivoted into audio engineering and production, and he’s credited for recording/mixing work with Branford Marsalis and on releases involving Harry Connick Jr. That’s a wild second act: from padded mayhem behind a drumkit to precision work behind a mixing console. Different room, same obsession with impact.