Raven LIfe's A Bitch CD Review

Lately, a great deal of the Metal albums I’ve been getting in remind me of the NWOBHM legends, Raven in one way or another. While the band is still active after all these years, there’s still a great deal of Metal fans who don’t know much about the band. I’m not here to tell you everything about them, but I would like to shine a light on the band and my favorite album they’ve released – “Life’s a Bitch”.
 
I was late to the Raven fandom; I didn’t find the band until 1985’s “Stay Hard” and we can thank Columbia House for that - those 12 records for a penny are still paying big dividends for myself and the bands that are still active/receiving royalties. HA! Knowing the history of the band, I know now that “Stay Hard” was the band’s big break in major label land as it was released on Atlantic Records. While “Stay Hard” was a blistering debut for Atlantic it did leave a lot to be desired given the band’s previous efforts, but Atlantic wanted an instant seller and pushed for it. The label’s involvement showed even more with the band’s next “The Pack Is Back” and while I have and love that album too, it’s quite possibly their weakest effort or well let’s just say a few of the tracks off of it should be played on the radio as much as Bon Jovi…
 
I’m not sure what happened between “The Pack” and the next release but something definitely changed. The result of that would be my favorite Raven release to date – “Life’s A Bitch”. Given that this album was released in 1987 smack dab in the middle of the “Hair Explosion” it really stood out to me. Aside from the Thrash stuff that was making the rounds, “Life’s a Bitch” was one of the heaviest albums released that year. As opposed to releasing a slickly produced album the band went back to its roots and released an album that concentrated solely on legit Speed Metal. Opening track “The Savage and The Hungry” sets the tone, with John Gallagher’s high-pitched vocals, here he hits notes that I didn’t think possible. Riff wise, this might be one of the band’s best and most memorable riffs to me. Nowadays it’s typical Speed Metal riffage, but in 1987, it was outrageous, and it felt new. Next up we run face first into one of my favorite Raven moments to date – “Pick Your Window”. Lyrically, it speaks volumes as to what the track is about – “Pick Your Window you’re leaving, you’re leaving right now”! Overall, the track has a very Punkish quality riff & melody wise, and it moves at the speed of light. I recall being smitten with it when I was young, specifically when I’d get pissed off about something, I’d want to crank it and plot my revenge. The title track of the album is my favorite songs from the band to date – “Life’s a Bitch”! This track moves along in the same manner as “Pick Your Window” but the song is a bit slower if you can imagine that. Little did I know the lyrics in this song would follow me into adult life, around that time I didn’t think that life was a bitch, and I couldn’t imagine the content in this track would ever apply to me… WRONG! “Why does nothing ever turn out right”?! Thankfully, I’ve never had to worry about my girl sticking 100$ up her nose and asking for new clothes. HA! Moving along, the album continues to pummel the listener with Speed Metal riffs, squealing vocal work and Punkish numbers – more highlights to check out are “Never Forgive”, “Iron League”, “You’re a Liar” and “Juggernaut”. I strongly recommend grabbing this album up in any format that you can find it in. The CD is stiff in price, but the record and cassette are priced fairly. It depends on the format you prefer, either way it’s essential if you’re into Metal. No collection is complete without Raven’s “Life’s A Bitch”.
 
Next to Motorhead, Raven is one of the best 3-piece bands to ever plug in, I feel that’s always lost when speaking about the band – 3 people make this much noise! All of Raven’s music tends to lean on Gallagher’s vocals but it’s not only his voice, but his brother John is also one of the most underrated guitarists in Metal. The band has always had a way with lyrics and song writing, they haven’t released a bad album yet. Several years back I was fortunate enough to see them live, it was on Labor Day and hardly anyone showed to the venue, so there might’ve been 100 people in the crowd that night. The band loaded in and then came out into the crowd hung out with us, talked trash, took pics, signed anything and everything we had and then they got up on stage and fucking SLAYED as if the place was packed. And then they got off the stage and hung out with us some more. I’ll never forget how kind and grateful they were to us. It felt like we were there to see some old friends play a set, they didn’t act like Rock Stars, and we certainly weren’t strangers. That’s a standout moment for me and I’ve met a ton of bands, but these guys were on my walls and in my head and heart when I didn’t have much to go on. It was a nice moment to meet them, shake hands and talk. 

Raven will be celebrating their 50^th year of existence this year with a new EP, “Can’t Take Away the Fire”. The preorder is already up, I’ll be grabbing mine here in a few weeks, I strongly suggest you do the same.

~Black Angel