THIS WEEK I’M LISTENING TO...RAVEN Leave ’Em Bleeding (SPV)

Essentially a stroll down SPV’s memory lane, ‘Leave ’Em Bleeding’ rounds up the highlights of Raven’s past twelve years and rounds them out with some odds and ends that might have escaped the average Raven lunatic.

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The first six cuts come thick ‘n’ fast from the bands past three albums with ‘Top Of The Mountain’, ‘Metal City’ and ‘The Power’ all drawn from the 2020 release ‘Metal City’, ‘Destroy All Monsters’ and ‘Battle March/Tank Treads (The Blood Runs Red)’ from 2015’s ‘ExtermiNation’ and ‘Crash Bang Wallop’ representing 2019’s ‘Screaming Murder Death From Above...’ live outing. Following that familiar blitz come an equal number of lesser-known cuts. ‘Necessary Evil’ was the bonus track on the Japanese version of the 2010 ‘Walk Through Fire’ CD, while the band’s reputable take on Thin Lizzy’s ‘Bad Reputation’ was also only released in Japan (and Brazil) on ‘ExtermiNation’. Another cover, this time the band’s revamp of Montrose’s ‘Space Station #5’, was a bonus cut on ‘Walk Through Fire’ and the Gallagher brothers’ hilarious homage to their Geordie roots ‘Malice In Geordieland’ was an additional cut on the ‘ExtermiNation’ LP.

The real curios come at the end of the album. ‘Rock This Town’ (again a Japanese bonus track) was recorded during the ‘Metal City’ sessions and features the trio – John and Mark Gallagher and drummer Mike Heller – live in the studio and metal thrashin’ mad. And ‘Leave ’Em Bleeding’ runs off with a live version of ‘Stay Hard’, recorded at The Vanguard in Tulsa, Oklahoma on 2 September 2017. Apparently, an employee at the club taped the show and gave the guys a flash drive of the set afterwards. It’s rough, it’s raw, it’s Raven. What more could you want?

Video clip: 'Rock This Town' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLn12GvSqJ0