Wednesday 18 May 2016

Raging Speedhorn - Lost Ritual (Album Review)


Release date: July 15th 2016. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Lost Ritual – Tracklisting

Bring Out Your Dead
Halfway To Hell
Motörhead
Evil Or Mental
Ten Of Swords
Dogshit Blues
Hangman
Shit Outta Luck
Coming Home
Unleash The Serpent

Band Members:

John Loughlin - vocals
Frank Regan - vocals
Jim Palmer - guitar
Jamie Thompson - guitar
Dave Thompson - bass
Gordon Morrison - drums

Review:

RAGING FUCKING SPEEDHORN ARE BACK!!!!!

Or in other words listening to this transports me back to 2000 and I'm 20 years old again, and I've just heard Thumper for the first time. RSH were my gateway drug. They led me onto harder and nastier drugs, like Iron Monkey and EyeHateGod, but they were my first. And I'll always love them for that.

Along with the aforementioned bands RSH changed my perception on heavy music, and how it could sound. In recent years my band had the privilege of opening up one of the shows on their comeback tour, and I can tell you I've never been as nervous before a gig as I was that day. They were nothing short of magnificent and treated us to an hour or so of all the hits, and one new song (Halfway To Hell, which features on this album and had a limited 7" release a little while ago)

So, with all that in mind I was almost nervous as I pressed play on the review copy that found it's way into my inbox....

Within seconds I was in sludge heaven as RSH have lost none of the intensity, groove or swagger that made them so vital the first time around.

First track "Bring Out Your Dead" is as heavy as bag full of concrete spanners, buried under another bag full of concrete spanners, but because it's RSH it's still as catchy as chlamydia and just as fucking nasty (I imagine....)

The next few tracks, "Halfway To Hell", "Motorhead" and the surely soon to be fan favourite "Evil Or Mental" complete with certified Gold crowd sing -a - long chorus all thunder by in just a matter of minutes.

It wasn't until the filthy strains of "Ten Of Swords" or "The Hangman" that I noticed it. Alongside everything you would want or expect from a RSH record the band have got a whole lot more sinister. More intricate backing guitar parts than before, quieter almost whispered vocals and an excellent use of build ups give this album an air of absolute menace in places.

As soon as these songs become public domain and the next tour hits town I predict a rise in diagnosed cases of whiplash all over the UK. So yeah. Raging Speedhorn are back. By all accounts they gave one of, if not the performance of The DesertFest just a few weeks back.

How fitting that a band that spawned so many of the leading bands from today's sludge movement are back to take their place at the top of the pile.

In short. You need this record.

Words by Simon Ross Williams

Thanks to Tom at Polymath PR for the promo. Lost Ritual will be available to buy from Pledge Music on CD/DD/Vinyl from July 15th 2016.

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