Raging Speedhorn - Raging Speedhorn
Green Island/ZTT Records - 2000
By Philip Whitehouse
There's been a growing trend in metal just lately - an increasing tendency for bands to crank the ampage up to 11 and let the riffs crack skulls, shatter windows, raise roofs and melt brains. Iron Monkey did it, Stampin' Ground are doing it, Stuck Mojo are doing it, and now Britain's new contenders, Raging Speedhorn, are going to take it to a whole new level.
The six-piece from Corby come from a growing collective of Sludgecore bands - that is, bands who detune their guitars further than Slipknot, play slow, hard and heavy before building up to a manic crescendo and who could kill small animals from twenty paces away with nought but a blast of throaty screaming from their vocalist.
In this department, the 'Horn have something of an unfair advantage - they have two vocalists among them. This fact is implemented to its fullest, with the two screamers engaging in fast-paced lyrical trade-offs not seen outside of the Beastie Boys.
Don't go making the mistake of thinking that they're rap-metal, however - the closest to hip-hop you'll hear on this record is the similar reliance on the word 'fuck'.
Stand-out tracks include the incendiary 'Knives And Faces', which begins with a simple, fast-paced riff and then explodes into a frantic, slam-pit friendly drum loop and screams combo. Another fine effort is the song which Raging Speedhorn will be sending to radio stations, the wonderfully malignant 'Thumper'. Again, an excellent pit-starting number, and as head-crushingly heavy as anything you'll have heard before.
Buy this album right now.
Green Island/ZTT Records - 2000
By Philip Whitehouse
There's been a growing trend in metal just lately - an increasing tendency for bands to crank the ampage up to 11 and let the riffs crack skulls, shatter windows, raise roofs and melt brains. Iron Monkey did it, Stampin' Ground are doing it, Stuck Mojo are doing it, and now Britain's new contenders, Raging Speedhorn, are going to take it to a whole new level.
The six-piece from Corby come from a growing collective of Sludgecore bands - that is, bands who detune their guitars further than Slipknot, play slow, hard and heavy before building up to a manic crescendo and who could kill small animals from twenty paces away with nought but a blast of throaty screaming from their vocalist.
In this department, the 'Horn have something of an unfair advantage - they have two vocalists among them. This fact is implemented to its fullest, with the two screamers engaging in fast-paced lyrical trade-offs not seen outside of the Beastie Boys.
Don't go making the mistake of thinking that they're rap-metal, however - the closest to hip-hop you'll hear on this record is the similar reliance on the word 'fuck'.
Stand-out tracks include the incendiary 'Knives And Faces', which begins with a simple, fast-paced riff and then explodes into a frantic, slam-pit friendly drum loop and screams combo. Another fine effort is the song which Raging Speedhorn will be sending to radio stations, the wonderfully malignant 'Thumper'. Again, an excellent pit-starting number, and as head-crushingly heavy as anything you'll have heard before.
Buy this album right now.
