UK band RAGING SPEEDHORN have been around in one form or another since the late 1990’s, although with the band taking a bit of a break for a few years in the 2000’s. This year the band is ready with their sixth studio album “Hard to Kill”, which will be released through their own label Red Weed Records in late October 2020.
Raging Speedhorn is well known as a metal band, and any fans of metal will recognize this from the moment the band kicks off this album. Dark in tone, aggressive in spirit and with a certain filthy sheen as a common denominator throughout.
There’s a few different types of songs on this album. We have the slow, distinctly doom metal oriented numbers, with additional life and nerve added to these by way of circulating, groove oriented patterns. Dark, majestic and monumental, but also gritty, gnarly and primal in mood and spirit. Then there are the songs with more of a midpaced tempo, with distinct nods towards doom metal as a style foundation broken up with tighter riff barrages as well as groove-oriented patterns, kind of at the halfway stage between stoner metal and doom metal, with possibly a slight touch of hardcore thrown into the mix.
The highlights of this album as far as I’m concerned is when Raging Speedhorn sets their sights onto stoner metal however. Circulating and staccato riff patterns explored in a more pacefilled, uptempo and energetic manner, whilst also retaining the gritty, dark and grimy sound they use elsewhere. Songs that sound like the bastard Neanderthal offspring from one of the forefathers of bands like Queens of the Stone Age, with a similar drive and intensity but explored in a more primordial manner.
The aggressive, shouted hardcore style lead vocals is a running contrast and supplement throughout all of this of course, contrasting the somewhat smoother instruments and also emphasizing the grittier, primal tendencies of the band. You’ll have to be able to enjoy this vocal style to enjoy this album of course, and if you belong to that crowd you won’t be disappointed with any aspects of this album.
A few more sparse and rare details are also worth taking note of. We do get some instances of light toned, distanced presumably guitar overlays scattered throughout this album, which is a nice touch. On a similar note the occasional twisted, psychedelic guitar effects used as details here and there also adds to the listener experience in a subtle Soundgarden kind of way in the moments when they appear. And at last the cover of the T-Rex classic ‘Children of the Revolution’ that concludes this album is a most charming experience, and a take on this song I imagine both T-Rex fans and Raging Speedhorn fans will enjoy in just about equal measure.
If you fancy metal that is dark, grimy and gnarly, and that use doom metal, stoner metal and hardcore elements as the main ingredients of their concoctions, chances are very good that you’ll find this latest tight, concise and cohesive production of Raging Speedhorn to be well worth a visit, when it appears a few weeks after these words have been posted online. A solid album that should please existing fans and with the qualities to find them some new ones as well I’d imagine.
My rating: 80/100
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Track list:
1. Snakebite
2. Doom Machine
3. Spitfire
4. Hard to Kill
5. Hammer Down
6. Hand of God
7. Brutality
8. The Beast
9. Children of the Revolution
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