It’s a good thing I always give each album I receive for reviewing several listening sessions. I wasn’t too impressed with the earlier stuff I’d heard from these Brits in the first place, and upon listening to “How The Great Have Fallen” for the first time I was ready to dismiss ‘em as just another PANTERA-ripoff. The fact that they play big, dumb riff-rock with silly song titles (the first song is called “A Different Shade Of Shit”) combined with some of the most idiotic press info I’ve ever seen (“RAGING SPEEDHORN have already redefined the face of metal. With ‘How The Great Have Fallen’ they’ve done it yet again” – yeah right!) didn’t help.

Upon closer inspection the album actually isn’t that bad. Although the vocals do sound like a cross between Phil Anselmo and Rob Flynn musically RAGING SPEEDHORN’s brutal riff-based metal actually has more in common with ENTOMBED than PANTERA. Some of the slower parts have BLACK SABBATH, DOWN and EYEHATEGOD written all over them and there’s even some semi-hardcore bits. One slight problem I do have with RAGING SPEEDHORN’s sound is that a large part of their material tends to be somewhat faceless and interchangeable. The definite standouts on this album are the slower and longer tracks like “Slay The Coward” and “Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down”. And as you can tell from those song titles these boys seem to have some major issues.

Personally I can’t help thinking they’re overdoing the ‘anger’-bit somewhat, but maybe that’s the point. After all, that biography I mentioned earlier is really impossible to take seriously and the hilarious phone conversation that ends this album proves these guys do have a sense of humor. Still, they’re not exactly what I’d call a ‘comedy’ act. So maybe some of their humor is a bit too tongue-in-cheek for me. Or maybe these guys are in need of some serious therapy. Who knows? Anyway, it doesn’t really matter because they still have better riffs than the average nu-metal band. If you like any of the bands mentioned you may need to check out “How The Great Have Fallen”.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: www.ragingspeedhorn.co.uk

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Dead Man Walking

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