Raven Payne (United States) - Demo (1987)

WE MADE IT TO 1987!!! \m/

1987 was an incredible year in the history of power metal. According to Rate Your Music's power metal page, 1984 saw 1 release, and 1985 and 1986 both had 3 releases, taking up 0.02% of the music that came out in those years. In 1987, the number of power metal releases was 37 - over twelve times as many as 1985 and 1986, and taking up 0.22% of the music from that year! It'll take me over a month to get through each release, and what's even more amazing is that 37 is a small number compared to the incredible rate power metal releases will be coming out at in later years!

Our first release of 1987 comes from Detroit's first power metal band: Raven Payne! (I love that they spelt it "payne" - NWOBHM masters like Tygers of Pan Tang, Tytan and Witchfynde would be proud!) Looking into their history, it turns out that the band was originally formed in 1983 under the name Vampirella - presumably named after the legendary comic book character. It's an awesome name for a metal band! According to Vampirella's Encylopedia Metallum page, the band started out as power metal but changed their style to hard rock later on. They released four demos - Demo '84, Demo '85, Demo '86 and Demo '87 before changing their name, but as of this writing, only the first demo has a Rate Your Music page, in which it's categorized as US Power Metal (USPM rules, and I give the '84 demo a huge recommendation if you're into that style, but in this blog I'm just covering European power metal - though there's some USPM bands who have releases tagged as both USPM and EUPM on Rate Your Music, such as the mighty Omen, who I've written about here before!)

Vampirella has a badass logo and band photo on their Metallum page:

That logo is SO metal, as is the band picture! All three members have awesome long hair, kickass leather jackets and the always essential leather pants. If you want to hear Vampirella's demos, I'm glad to report that even though they've never been reissued, the archival efforts of metalheads on the Internet have kept their music alive! Their full 1984 demo is available on YouTube, and what's even better is that Vampirella's complete discography is available as a download on Heavy Metal Rarities, the greatest forum ever! You'll need to make an account there before you can download things from the website, but once you've done that, you can get the demo compilation by clicking here - the Mediafire link on the bottom will download the fastest! While you're at it, there's TONS of other incredible downloads you can find on that site - I highly recommend browsing it. You'll find a treasure trove of obscure metal gems!

The picture above can be found on the Encylopedia Metallum page for Vampirella's 1984 demo. I love how the tape looks, and whoever took this picture is lucky to own such a killer, rare piece of metal history!

Moving on to 1987, after the band's name changed to Raven Payne, they returned to power metal - this time with a more EUPM flavor, and released another demo. I can't find any pictures of the tape, but thanks to Metallum, we can see their exquisite logo and band photo!

That Raven Payne logo is perfection - the style of the letters is so cool and metal and the artist went all out on the design - there's so much extra detail there that really makes it stand out! The band photo is great too - another classic '80s metal group pic! I wasn't able to find any pictures of what the band's 1987 demo tape looks like, so that means it's time to get into the music!

The first song, "Flight of Power", has a perfect title because this song makes me feel like flying on a long haired fire-breathing dragon made of steel and dressed in leather while I triumphantly raise a humungous sword in the air with one hand and give the metal horns in fingerless leather gloves with the other! It starts with a killer mid-paced guitar riff from John Lowery which is accompanied by some cool hi-hat work from Gary Stevens and a nice bassline from Chuck Pearson. Soon, we hear a huge crash cymbal sound over a sustained power chord, and then we get a kickass open hi-hat count-in which announces the song's getting faster - hell yeah! 

After the count-in, an incredible riff comes in, as does the drum beat, which is a single kick traditional heavy metal style beat played on the hi-hat. After we get some time to digest this spectacular verse riff, the vocals come in. It turns out that Stevens played drums and did vocals at the same time, which is really cool and rare to see in metal, though one other example of that is the mighty Dan Beehler from the legendary speed metal band Exciter! His vocals are mostly mid-ranged, but he's able to hit some nice highs too - they sound really good, and there's something about the riffing combined with his vocals that reminds me of the great NWOBHM band Blitzkrieg! After Stevens holds one of those high notes for a bit, the vocals pause and we get to hear the verse riff without vocals again.

Then, we get an unexpected change in the song's structure: a big snare hit introduces another tempo change as we go into the pre-chorus! This time, the beat's a bit slower and played on the ride. The best part about this section is the constant double bass - that always slays! The guitar riff here is another spectacular one, and when the vocals come back in over the riff, they sound great and complement what the guitars are doing really well! Soon, we go into another tempo change: this time the music has a slower, triplet feel that reminds me of Manowar's immortal classic "Blood of My Enemies". The drums in this section go back to single bass, and we get to hear some really cool hi-hat work that goes back and forth between open and closed. It would be really cool to hear hi-hats opening and closing while double bass is going at the same time - I'd better figure out how to grow a third hand! The riff in this section is magnificent too, and like the last part, the vocals come back in after a few bars and they match the guitar melody really well. It turns out that this part is the chorus, and the vocals here feel so melodic and triumphant!

After the chorus, the song returns to the verse riff, over which we get to hear some epic shredding! Once the jaw-dropping guitar solo is over, the song goes back to the pre-chorus, where Stevens lets out a legendary metal falsetto scream near the end! After that, we get another verse, which again ends with some glass shattering shrieking! Finally, the song returns to the intro riff, and ends on an emphatic snare hit. The track's 3 minutes long, yet it feels like going on a glorious journey. Another thing I should mention is that the production's amazing and super professional for a demo and the band's really tight - this recording's good enough to be released as an official EP!

The next song, "Timeless Warrior" (another perfect title, because power metal is timeless and it always makes me feel like a warrior!) The intro is full of strong power chords that are perfectly synced with the crash cymbals, and after an open hi-hat count-in brings us out of the intro and announces the song's about to get faster (I'm sensing a pattern!) we get some mesmerizing speedy double bass work accompanied by the hi-hat and snare hitting on each beat of each measure together. The riff that comes in during this part is totally fast sixteenth note gloriousness! After this section, we get another tempo change. The beat in this part is still played on the hi-hat, and now the song has more of a swinging Maiden feel - the riff and drums in this section remind me of the classic Iron Maiden song "Drifter"! This turns out to be the verse riff, as the vocals come in after we get some time to appreciate the formidable music. After a few lines, Stevens stops singing and we get to hear more of the verse riff without vocals before he comes back in. The vocal melody here is fantastic and so memorable! After the vocals stop once more, we get a few more bars of the verse riff before the band tightly stops.

The song comes out of the pause with another tempo change - this time we get a terrific riff while the drums stay on the hi-hat and we get to hear more of the band playing in that fantastic "Blood of My Enemies" style slow triplet feel. After a few bars, the vocals come back in, and it's revealed that this part is the chorus. The singing stops after a few lines, giving us more time to focus on how cool the riff is before the song jolts back into the energetic double bass section, followed by another verse. When the song goes back into the chorus riff, we get to hear a dazzling guitar solo after a few bars! Once it ends, the band plays another verse, then returns to the awesome double bass part. The ending is great - there's a killer part with tom hits and guitar notes in perfect sync while the blazing double bass keeps going.

The next track is an instrumental called "Tales from the Dark Side" (possibly named after the awesome '80s horror anthology show?) It starts with a cool, mid-paced drum intro with a triplet swing featuring some nice constant double bass paired with great tom and snare work! After Stevens does a killer fill, he moves his left foot to the hi-hat for a count-in with occasional snare hits and cymbal chokes. This is played over a magnificent riff, and after a few bars, we get a sweeping fill that goes around the kit. Then, a new beat comes in, which goes back to constant double bass (always bodacious!) while the hand part moves to the hi-hat. After a few bars of this, a lead guitar melody starts playing over the riff, and it adds another layer of greatness! Then, the guitars switch to a new riff featuring both the lead and rhythm guitar playing in sync, and it sounds so powerful! This is followed by the band going back to the previous riff without the lead, and then adding it back and returning to the lead/rhythm synced riff.

Suddenly, we get a tempo change as we hear slow tom hits and guitar notes playing perfectly in sync - the fill goes around all the toms on the kit from highest to lowest and I especially loved hearing the high toms - they have such a Clive Burr-esque sound! After we hear a crash cymbal and a sustained power chord, the tempo changes again, and the song goes into a new section that sounds like a mix of the intro from Iron Maiden's legendary 1981 song "Killers" and the intro from Helloween's classic "Future World", which came out the same year as this demo. During this part, both hands switch to the hi-hat, and we get to hear some excellent sixteenth note closed hi-hat playing with occasional open hi-hat bits. The guitar and bass are playing a catchy riff, and after a few bars, a snare, playing on beats 2 and 4 of each measure, as well as a single bass part are added to the hi-hat pattern - the drumming here again reminds me of the great Clive Burr, my favorite single bass drummer!

After a quick, terrific snare fill followed by a dramatic crash cymbal synced with a crushing sustained power chord, the track returns to the intro drum part, followed by the killer riffs from before. Then, we get into the outro, which starts with the synced tom fill + guitar section we heard before that gradually slows down, followed by some greatly synced power chords matched with some crushing crash cymbal work! The instrumental ends with a long guitar note, and it's time for the final track!

"Barbarian Frustration" (epic title!) starts with some great clean electric guitar work that's gently accented by some fantastic ride playing. After we get a few bars to appreciate the beautiful melody the guitars are playing, the vocals come in, bringing us into the first verse. The vocal melody is gorgeous and so grand - the singing sounds layered and massive!

After the first verse, we get some emphatic tom hits that are synced to distorted guitar power chords, and then we get a tubular tempo change: the song goes into a fast, kickass Maiden-esque triplet rhythm with a strong beat on the hi-hat accompanied by an awe-inspiring riff! I love the bit where the hi-hat hits match what the guitars are doing. Soon, the vocals come back in for the second verse, and Stevens holds a really cool note at the end of the section. Also listen for a tremendous bass fill midway through this part!

After we get to hear the riff without vocals for a few more bars, the band tightly stops and then comes back with another tempo change. This time, the music becomes slower and the drums change to a pounding beat on the toms, accompanied by another supremely amazing riff! Like in the previous sections, we get a few bars to appreciate it instrumentally before the vocals return and provide another staggering melody. Stevens sings two awesome metal falsetto note during this part!

After that, the song goes back into the fast riff with hi-hat drumming from before, and there's another fantastic bass fill shortly after it returns. Then, the vocals come back and deliver another awesome verse. Then, the band goes back into the slower riff accompanied by pounding toms, over which we get to hear a blazing guitar solo!

When the solo finishes, the song changes tempo again and we're introduced to a new section: tempo-wise it's faster than what we heard during the solo and slower than the fast riff from before. The drum beat is played on a closed hi-hat, and we get to hear some killer open hi-hat accents. The riff in this part, along with the drumming, reminds me of something you'd hear from Stained Class era Judas Priest. After the band briefly pauses and we get to hear a nice snare fill, the vocals make their triumphant return! The stop-start part gets repeated a few times over the vocals, and it's really awesome how the vocals are sung over the parts where the band's playing but stop when the break's about to happen. This section has a fabulous rhythm to it!

Next, the band goes back to the slower riff with the tom beat, and once again the vocals come in after a few bars. We get to hear two more glass-shattering metal falsetto notes during this part - always a good thing! This is followed by the band returning to the fast riff, with the vocals once again coming back after a few bars, and the last vocal note is another badass high pitched screech! After we hear a few more bars of the fast riff played without vocals, a tight snare hit cues the band to stop, and they come back with some brilliantly timed and powerful sounding slow synced tom hits and power chords! The song ends with the sound of sustained guitar.

Overall, Raven Payne's demo is a killer rare early power metal / traditional heavy metal gem, and totally worth checking out! Like Vampirella's demo tapes, you can download Raven Payne's demo at the impeccable Heavy Metal Rarities! After Raven Payne's demo was released, the band was inactive for an unknown time period, but in 2000, they released a killer comeback album, No Remorse, featuring a new lineup with only bassist Chuck Pearson remaining from the band's 1987 incarnation. Original guitarist John Lowery later adapted the stage name John 5, and went on to become a famous guitarist, playing for such acts as Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson.

Next up on The History of Power Metal, I'll be looking at Zanity, the first Swedish power metal band, and their amazing 1987 demo tape Time Out of Mind!