Album review: Raging Speedhorn – Night Wolf

If you've avoided the fangs of Raging Speedhorn’s decidedly British, rather dastardly, brand of sludge metal up to now, then Night Wolf is unlikely to grab you.

That’s a shame, though, because since returning from their hiatus in 2014, the Corby louts have been on the upswing, with Lost Ritual (2016) and Hard To Kill (2020) providing increasingly enjoyable soundtracks to heavy sessions. That trajectory continues with Night Wolf, a lairy lycanthrope of an album that’s here to rip throats and take a massive slash over snobbery.

Those who’ve followed RSH since the early ’00s – when they found themselves amongst the unlikely leaders of a British scene flying the flag in the face of America’s nu-metal exports – will particularly enjoy the stoner riffery of Buzz Killer and Every Night’s Alright For Fighting. The latter track, like the rest of this material, recalls Motörhead’s unquenchable thirst for odes to chaos delivered with breakneck intensity. These 10 tracks are shot through with Lemmy-esque humour, too, complementing the bitter dirge rather than attempting to sugarcoat it, while suggesting its creators take their enterprise seriously, but not themselves.

Much like its two preceding records, Night Wolf doesn’t stick around long, so its lack of depth or variety won’t be a concern. But then again, if you’re checking this out in anticipation of ballads or soul-searching experimentalism, you’ve entered the wrong lair.

Instead, Night Wolf proves that 27 years in – admittedly with only vocalist Frank Regan and drummer Gordon Morison lasting from their inception – Raging Speedhorn still have that dog in them, and it bites like an absolute bastard.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: High On Fire, Cancer Bats, earthtone9

Night Wolf is released on March 7 via Spinefarm