NWoBHM Legends RAVEN Show Review - Tulsa OK

For Raven’s concert at the Vanguard in Tulsa, OK on Sept. 2nd, you had a nice host of different bands from different areas opening for them. We all know that Raven was the main event, and some of the other bands sharing that tiny stage were more enjoyable than others (as is usually the case). One of the things that was admirable, though, was that the four opening/co-headlining acts all seemed to incorporate different musical elements or influences into different songs. There was more than one defining side to their sounds.

Edge of Zephyr - These local boys started out with a few rocking traditional metal songs, and kicked up the tempo with some faster picking at times. However, during their last couple of tunes, they went in a sludgier doom metal direction. “Living With the Beast” and “What Have I Become” were a couple of the songs that they played, and the latter was about Marquis de Sade. A strong, respectable warm-up band.

Hard Truth - Hard Truth are Tulsa’s hard rock and metal cover specialists. The funny thing about cover bands is the first thought that pops into your mind might be, “Why don’t they write more of their own songs?”, but then you tell yourself it’s nice to hear some songs that you actually recognize prior to the band or bands you came to see. Their frontman was a tall, curly-haired fellow with an intimidating presence and a high, but not whiny, voice. Their drummer seemed to look bored onstage. They did a medley of Black Sabbath songs, a couple of Judas Priest songs, and even a Johnny Cash song. They also shifted to the glam side towards the end with a medley of songs like Quiet Riot’s “Cum On Feel the Noize” and Poison’s “Nothin’ But a Good Time”.

Bobaflex - This band could be best described as metalcore with occasional traces of sludge, similar to Killswitch Engage but with just a pinch of Crowbar thrown into the mix. There are definitely more similarities to the former in the vocal department. They played songs like “Mama (Don’t Take Our Drugs Away)”, “Chemical Valley”, and “Long Time Coming”. Ultimately forgettable, but drummer Tommy Johnson was the best musician of the bunch.

Dead By Wednesday - Raven’s Connecticut-based metalcore labelmates are very much in the same ballpark as Trivium and Shadows Fall. The band was promoting their 2016 release, Darkest of Angels, with songs like “Self-Medicate” and “You Must Like Suffering”. Even though I didn’t really enjoy their set, I will say that they did put on the most energetic performance I’ve ever seen from any band of this style. Vocalist Rob Roy hinted at some rap elements with his stage moves and even vocal delivery at times, and he sweated even more than Raven’s Mark Gallagher. They closed with a cover of Pantera’s “Domination”, which they dedicated to Dimebag Darrell.

Raven - Malignancy/Fear Factory drummer Mike Hellner has been introduced to the fold on this tour as a result of Joe Hasselvander’s current health issues, and he proved to be a more than worthy teammate for the Gallagher brothers. The whole band was chugging with passionate energy like a steamroller. Yet it’s not just their youthful energy that sparks when they take the stage, but their undeniable talent. I’ve stated before that I don’t like when musicians take several minutes out of the set to play some unnecessary guitar solo when I’d rather here them play one of their actual songs, but I was truly enamored with Mark’s solo. He’s always been an underrated musician, but he sounded like he had improved even since the last time I saw them a few years ago. Mark deserves to hold guitar legend status. John is a great bassist, too, and used a lot more effects during his bass solo than he did for the rest of the night. Don’t even get me started on his voice. What other metal vocalist in his fifties can still maintain his falsetto today as perfectly as John can? OK, so you recently saw ‘80s singer A or B with his spiked armband nail the high scream during the intro to one song and attempt to do it a few more times, but John can pull those screams off all night! Mark and John told the Tulsa crowd of about 50 people that they found them to be way more metal than what they had experienced in Oklahoma City. “Hung, Drawn, and Quartered” was the long-forgotten treasure that they finally resurrected for this tour, and John explained to the crowd that now you can get nasty comments on Facebook for stating your political beliefs, but centuries ago, the song’s title would be the consequence.

Destroy All Monsters
All For One
Hung, Drawn, and Quartered
Fire Power
Medley of different Raven riffs
Rock Until You Drop
Fire Burns Within
Stay Hard
Guitar solo
Faster Than the Speed of Light
On and On
Bass solo
Medley of “Break the Chain” and a few covers
Crash Bang Wallop

It’s just hard to imagine these guys ever putting on a bad show. You are always going to see some bands make a mistake, lose their energy for a few minutes, or go on an unnecessary rant in between songs. If your band is developing a reputation for being more disappointing live than on record and you can’t figure out what you’re doing wrong, take a lesson from the Gallagher brothers. They set the bar for their own performances very high, and that’s why their fans always go home from their shows happy.

-Nick Statuto

Order their new album, "Extermination", right HERE!

Raven Website: HERE!
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Tags:  Raven, Extermination, All For One, Destroy All Monsters 

Nick Statuto    September 20, 2017