Live Review: Raging Speedhorn - Record Junkee, Sheffield
1st February 2020
Supt: Desert Storm, Swamp Coffin
Review by Cat Finch
Sheffield, the Steel City, synonymous with the noise of the historic steel works, foundry’s and industrial units. The city itself built upon the noise of industry and hard labour. Thus a fitting stop on the tour for Corby noise mongers Raging Speedhorn.
Tonight’s sold out show at Record Junkee the penultimate date on a two week tour that has taken the band the length and breadth of the UK for a series of sell out dates in very intimate venues.
Opening proceedings are Rotherham’s finest sludge outfit, Swamp Coffin. The unassuming trio take to the stage and the noise they blurt out is bowel movingly deep! If you like music so heavy you can feel your internal organs vibrating then these boys are for you. A short set, to a crowd fairly familiar with their work shows the lads have potential, bass line after bass line assaulting your ear drums along with Jon’s guttural howls.
The main support are the slightly lighter in tone, Desert Storm. The stoner rock quintet have been going from strength to strength over recent years, and this today is their second set of the day, having played the APF Records showcase only hours earlier over in Manchester. Their musical tone, not to dissimilar to giants Orange Goblin, delivers half an hour of stoner rock heavy metal. Head bobbing goodness as Matt Ryan barks his vocals atop a melee of guitars, bass and drums. Whilst the aforementioned Orange Goblin are the undisputed kings of British stoner rock, Desert Storm are sat waiting in the wings to take over their crown. Today’s show highlights their talents and proves they have what it takes to run with the big boys.
It's circa 9pm as the Speedhorn lads start setting up their kit, the Record Junkee stage barely big enough to house all six of them. Last summer Dan Cook had the unenviable task of stepping into John Loughlin’s shoes as one of the bands two front men, but he does it with aplomb.
Cramped onto the stage in front of 150 people packed into this tight venue, the temperature is high and the hyperactive frontmen have barely enough room to move about, as is the trademark. But Dan is soon off into the crowd to perform from within the masses as the band opens up with ‘Hand ofGod’.
‘Bring Out Your Dead’ has the crowd bouncing and singing along, guitarists Dave and Jim grinning ear to ear, as I’m sure was bassist Andy, hidden somewhere at the back in the remaining yardage of stage space. The band have been going 20 plus years now, there may have been personal changes but they show no signs of slowing down. Frank the ever dominant presence centre stage, daunting as he towers over the crowd barking with every ounce of energy he has. The band feed off each other, off the raucous crowd and put in a performance of sublime brutality. A Raging Speedhorn show is never dull and tonight the set is highlighted by ‘Voodoo Man’, ‘Motorhead’, ‘Superscud’and ‘Hate Song’. The band reign supreme in a genre they helped define, and a new album later this year will only help propel their status!
Photo credits: Tim Finch Photography
