Raging Speedhorn – Hard to Kill (Review)

Raging Speedhorn are a sludge metal band from the UK. This is their sixth album.

Hard to Kill is the follow up to 2016’s Lost Ritual, and it’s a beast of an album. Revitalised with a new lineup, including a new vocalist, (the band have two if you’re unfamiliar with them), the album is 33 minutes of snarling sludge metal and dirty heavy metal thunder. Oh, and a T-Rex cover.

The songs are typical for Raging Speedhorn, and that’s no bad thing. These are vicious metallic sludge anthems, covered in thick heavy riffs and serrated vocals. The band’s groovy riffs game is very, very strong.

As with every Raging Speedhorn release there’s enough diversity of songwriting to hold the listener’s attention, with riotous upbeat wrecking balls set alongside slower sludge-fuelled heavyweight tracks that sound like they should be able to crack mountains. Mixed in with all of this is the band’s trademark catchiness; their barbed hooks are every bit as potent on Hard to Kill as they have always been.

Filled with more groove-friendly riffs than you can shake a stick at, Hard to Kill is on fire. This is basically a no-frills, no-nonsense sludge metal album that thoroughly kicks arse and is just fun to listen to. The pure joy of aggressive metal is encapsulated in Hard to Kill very well. Don’t miss out on this.