01. Destroy All Monsters
02. Tomorrow
03. It's Not What You Got
04. Fight
05. Battle March/Tank Treads (The Blood Runs Red)
06. Feeding The Monster
07. Fire Burns Within
08. Scream
09. One More Day
10. Thunder Down Under
11. No Surrender
12. Golden Dawn
13. Silver Bullet
14. River Of No Return
15. Malice In Geordieland [bonus]

There are a couple of things that happen to old bands. One: they run out of steam and start playing slower and less energetically as old age creeps in. Two: they run out of ideas and start rehashing the same old stuff in a bid to recapture their glory days. It seems that someone forgot to tell all this to Raven, who in fact insist on kicking serious heavy metal arse on their new album ExtermiNation.

ExtermiNation doesn't sound like an album churned out by guys who are close to 60 years of age in a band that started a year before the mighty Iron Maiden. There is some serious youthful exuberance on display here and a hunger that one associates with bands on their first couple of albums, not their 13th!

The performance is tight and ferocious in the best tradition of the glorious 1980s. This is the album Accept's Blind Rage or Helloween's and Judas Priest's last couple of shockers should've been. Hell, this is even what Iron Maiden should be cranking as opposed to 13-minute plodfests with 5-minute outros. Indeed John Gallagher is in top form and his screams put Bruce Dickinson modern performances to shame.

There's some familiarity with the song writing which is to be expected given the genre. But there's actually quite a lot of individuality in the song writing courtesy of a willingness to incorporate a few different stylist components in terms of hard rock, occasional thrashy riffs, occasional power metal harmonies and NWOBHM catchiness. The sound has a modern muscularity about it but it's not overpolished like so many of their peers and the guitars sit in their rightful position at the top of the mix.

Perhaps the only criticism is that the album is too long with a slight dip in quality towards the end and especially the last track "Malice In Geordieland" which seems somewhat third-rate. Chop that one and maybe a few more generic tracks and this would've been a phenomenal release instead of merely a very good one.

So if you want ballsy heavy metal with big meaty riffs, catchy hooks and an infectious energy that makes you want to headbang whilst throwing the horns, then Raven's ExtermiNation is the album for you.

Performance:	9
Songwriting:	8
Originality:	6
Production:	9