Raging Speedhorn – "Night Wolf"

Anyone up for a boogie with Satan?

Around the turn of the century, I pretty much swallowed anything I could get my hands on if it involved distorted guitars (and, for that matter, alcohol). There was this one band, Raging Speedhorn, that I happened to see a buncha times. And unlike a lot of that other [something-something]-core and nu-metal circulating at the time, most of which featured less creativity and memorability than the average housewife-targeted early-afternoon medical TV drama, Speedhorn had some charm and personality going on for them. Last time I saw them, guess about 15 years ago, they were hella hung over, had porn mag cutouts taped all over their amps, and the power went off in the last song, causing the entire band to break down laughing.

Not that I've followed them since then, of course. Not that it's been critical, either, what with the band having been on a 7-year hiatus and kept on replacing members both before and after. But put on their 7th LP, "Night Wolf", and none of that matters.

The thick, woolly stoner riff in opener "Blood Red Sky" manages to be bouncy and dramatic at the same time. The vocals scream and growl as though their prime intent was to make any wimps and posers leave the hall. One tremolo'ed guitar figure has a certain black metal quality to it. It's all simple, effective, and even somewhat catchy. One could imagine that invocational scream of "RAISE YOUR HANDS UP / TO THE BLOOD RED SKY" commanding a crowd to do exactly that. The half-time after the second chorus features long, stretched-out chord blocks – we're not in metalcore country; we're in doom metal country. This is heavy, y'all.

Yes, overall, we're going slow-to-midtempo here. The word "sludge" rightly revolves around the band when people ascertain their auditory niche; however, this isn't prevalent until a bit further in. "Buzz Killa" starts off in what sounds like a 7/4-time and, after a mid-section that sounds like punk rock, ends in something that sounds like "Wake Up" by Rage Against the Machine. "The Blood Code", however, is pure sludge. When taking notes before writing the review, I type, "Slow and heavy. If one likes those two qualities, one will enjoy this, even though it says "nu-metal" and "-core" on their Metal Archives profile". And that scream is wonderfully anti-commercial. What this lacks in catchiness, it more than makes up for in authenticity.

We're in a pretty specific Venn diagram territory here, overlapping between an unfriendly production and a big celebration of life itself.

Although clocking in at only just short of 34 minutes, "Night Wolf" is one of those albums that evolves. "Can't Stop" is a bit more uptempo – which is downtempo for most other bands, but still. With that chuggy NWoBHM riff over that jagged, groovy feel and more shouty vocals, we're back very close to that first Down record right here. Shit, even the guitar tone sounds like that of Kirk Windstein. (And shit, that record's 30 years old.)

But this is only paving the way for the obvious cue, the upbeat "Every Night's Alright For Fighting". With that neat little blues figure, it's easy to see why someone appointed this the lead single. Even those guttural vocal lines are catchy. You can sense that the verse is setting the stage for something, and if you don't feel like that the chorus is, indeed, alright for fighting (in a moshpit, duh), you and I will never fully understand one another. Dammit, the synergy here between the dirty production, the uptempo punk feel, and that loveably dumb Elton John reference is fucking perfect. While this is a single, it's a single on its own premises – not those of a record company executive. Even the breakdown features a blues riff and a constant chord flow – no hiphop grooves. And with the ending ritardando and growl, that right there is how you fucking cut it.

Staying with that aforementioned evolution, then, side 2 here features a lot of that same uptempo energy. Lots of crash cymbals; everything's up in the red EQ area here. "Comin' In Hard" has, apart from more easily decipherable vocals, some distinct country elements going for it. In fact, is that a banjo I'm hearing in the background? Seriously.

What this lacks in catchiness, it more than makes up for in authenticity.

This is also where the lyrics have unequivocally transcended into pure party mode. While "Dead Men Can't Dance" might be an allegory for something, its literal verbiage is about going down that highway south of Heaven and capering with the Dark One himself:

I flame-walked in, walking over hot coals
I'm crazy like a fool
Coming in like a bomb, I'm smoking hot
'Cause I'm daddy cool
Dead men can't dance – so just keep on walking
Dead men can't dance – have a boogie with Satan
I got the tail in my hands
I see the look in his eye
He wants to boogie
I said, "Okay!"

Yes, as gritty as this music sounds, and if the album cover's "Teen Wolf" take-off hadn't given you the hint, we're in a pretty specific Venn diagram territory here, overlapping between an unfriendly production on one hand and a big celebration of life itself on the other.

A lovely territory it is. You're not gonna remember a whole lot of a record like this, but you don't have to, either. And on the other hand, that also means you're not gonna get tired of it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 6

Genre: Sludge metal
Release date: 7/3/2025
Label: Spinefarm
Producer: Russ Russell