1988 brought about the seventh release for 'Raven' and with it a couple of changes, thankfully the music wasn't one of the them as they continue with the energetic Metal exhibited on 'Life's a Bitch'. The biggest change sees drummer 'Joe Hasselvander' taking over from the longstanding 'Rob Hunter', while the band were forced to find a new label after being unceremoniously dropped by 'Atlantic'. Musically this is just what you expect from 'Raven' fast, raw and energetic, a few tracks do loose a little direction and at times perhaps some songs were more fun to play than to actually listen too. I'm reviewing this from the 1999 Century Media re-mastered version, which has a far superior sound to the original.

After a short building instrumental titled 'Behemoth', it's straight into the punishing 'Die for Allah', a typical 'Raven' brisk paced ripper that ranks alongside their finest, the chorus (however politically incorrect) hits the spot, as does 'John's' punishing vocals and 'Mark's' uncompromising fret work- fine opener. The slightly more rowdy 'Gimme a Break' ensues and while it lacks some refinement, is a good energetic run-through, complete with driving rhythm, stringent guitaring and some classic 'John Gallagher' screams. The tempo falls a little for the powerful plodder 'Into the Jaws of Death' and despite the fact it needs a couple of minutes shaving off it's six minute running time, is still a solid dose of Metal 'Raven' style. More quality “Athletic Rock” is brought about by the energetic 'In the Name of the Lord', while 'Stick It' is a lively affair that comes complete with some excellent fret work, but is ultimately a fairly throwaway number. The carefree rocker 'Lay Down the Law' follows in solid fashion and at times is slightly reminiscent of '.U.D.O.' material, the instrumental break is very respectable and all told a good cut, even overlooking the vast amount of helium fuelled vocals. Less focused but probably enjoyable to play is 'You Got A Screw Loose', which features purely laughable lyrics, whilst 'Thunderlord' is an inconsistent effort which unsuccessfully marries laboured vocal sections with splendid instrumental work. The album looses further focus around this point as most of the songs contain lyrics centred around macho nonsense, the first of which is the blatant and generic 'The King', which despite 'Mark's' solid fret work is a repetitive affair. The ensuing 'Hard as Nails' is marginally better, but again the penmanship leaves a lot to desired, while the unoriginal and trite 'Kick Your Ass' is along the same lines as the previous cut. A live version of 'Lay Down the Law' closes the album, but to be frank the sound quality is so poor it's hardly worth bothering with.

The first half of the album is classic 'Raven', the second loses focus and too often deteriorates into the predictable and at times the sloppy, there's enough quality to make this a decent release, but inferior to the predecessor 'Life's a Bitch'.