Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Metal Mayhem ROC, Raven bassist/vocalist John Gallagher offered an update on the band’s new album. According to him, the group already “have a lot of songs” written.

Gallagher said the following:

“We have a lot of songs. We have a very, very large cache of songs. A lot of them were written before I had the accident [bleed on the brain, which required surgery in August 2025]. So with all that, a lot of them I couldn’t even remember. Totally. I mean, it’s tough when you’re a sausage factory and stuff anyway. You just concentrate on the one you’re working on, and then you go back, and we kick it around between the three of us and see where it is. So I’ve got perfect perspective on listening back to a lot of this stuff, and it’s, like, ‘Wow, that’s really cool. I like that.’ So it’s a question of going through them and going, ‘What would be a great opener?’ ‘What would be a slam-dunk follow-up?’ ‘What would be a great ender?’ If you had something more epic, where would you put it? Where would a rock and roll one go? You try to pre-sequence, in a sense, and end up with, like, 12, 13 songs and maybe cut them and work it down from there. You always need an extra track for Japan or what have you. There’s always something like that. But we like the concept of the 10, 11 songs, 40 minutes. You don’t overstay your welcome. People’s attention spans are slow enough to start with. But back in the day, that was your restriction due to vinyl, so it made sense. You could build a little narrative, little peaks and valleys up and down, and sequence it correctly and really hit hard. MONTROSE, first album. VAN HALEN, first [album]… I mean, VAN HALEN kept it real short, but within reason, the concept is still there.”

[via Blabbermouth]