RAVENSTINE – Ravenstine
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As 4 of the 5 Ravenstine members are older than 40, even close to 50, they might be the oldest newcomer band in the world. Ravenstine was founded during the Covid lockdowns. Three music friends from Ireland, Germany and Croatia, who had known each other for a long time, often met online which gave birth to the idea to form a band online. After winning two more musicians for the project, they released two singles. The positive response that followed made them want to take things further and release a whole album. When the pandemic restrictions were lifted, they finally found their way into the recording studio. John A.B.C. Smith (bass) and Ian O'Sullivan (guitar) already played with God's Army. Drummer Hanno Kerstan is still active with Mystic Prophecy. Singer Zak Tataji is in several bands and represented Croatia at this year's Eurovision Song Contest with Let 3. Only Martin Sosna hasn’t been in a band before. Most of the band members grew up in the 80s. listening to hard rock and heavy metal bands like AC/DC, ZZ Top, Iron Maiden and Krokus. These influences are clearly reflected on the first tracks. The opener Ravenstine sounds like an AC/DC and ZZ Top jam session and Lady Luck also pays tribute to the 80s. Freedom Day is my favourite track on the album and Iron Maiden were certainly the godfathers here. Ravenstine certainly won't win a prize for originality, but the joy of playing is undeniable. On Still Alive, for example, you can hear a stone age man screaming, which is meant to express that you should go out more like in the old days and not hang out so much on the internet. On this track, I like the quieter middle section, possibly inspired by Pink Floyd. Shut Up And Clap is followed by an electronic version of Beethoven's ninth symphony, the poem about joy. On the black or white vinyl, you can now put on the B-side, which can't quite keep up with the A-side. Push It To The Limit is a bit annoying, because the one-line chorus is repeated too often. Blue Light sounds strongly like AC/DC again, but on Raise Your Head I miss the tempo a bit. To achieve a length of over 40 minutes, the band added two excellent cover versions: I Don't Know by Ozzy Osbourne and Run Like Hell by Pink Floyd. I could imagine Ravenstine as an excellent cover band, because their repertoire is amazingly large. An astonishing fact is that the band has four singers. If you keep in mind that the musicians don't see one another often due to geographical distances and can only occasionally rehearse together, this debut album is anything but bad. For my taste, it still contains two songs that hadn’t matured yet, but nevertheless it has become an entertaining listening experience, with room for improvement. |
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10 songs |
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45:46 minutes |
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***** ** |
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Genre: hard rock / heavy metal Label: Rock Of Ages |
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