It's been a good 12 months for Corby's Raging Speedhorn. After giving the early morning punters at Ozzfest a short, sharp wake-up call, their single 'The Gush' hammered on the door of the Top 50 and they picked up legions more admirers at Tattoo The Planet.
Tonight features a stellar supporting line-up including American noiseniks Clutch and up-and-coming Dukes Of Nothing. The crowd are very much on Speedhorn's side, though, judging by the roar that goes off when the lights go down and eerie red lights highlight the band's name, which looks as if it's tattooed at the back of the stage.
They spring into action with tag team frontmen John Loughlin and Frank Regan patrolling the front of the stage, leaning on the monitors to exhort the crowd to go mental and bellowing like wounded beasts. For those unfamiliar with Speedhorn's music, the vocals sound like several black bears roused simultaneously from sleep over a backdrop of crunching guitars from the Pantera school with some hardcore drum fills occasionally thrown into the mix as well.
The moshpit is well and truly heaving as they blast through the highlights of their self-titled debut album - 'Thumper', 'Superscud' and 'The Gush' to name but three choice cuts - as guitarists Gareth Smith and Tony Loughlin pull out one monster riff after another.
They even annihilate Black Flag's 'My War', proof positive that they can turn their big sick noise to other people's material as well. It all ends with many fists pumping the air and a lot of people minus their T-shirts. Which is as it should be. Raging Speedhorn in a nutshell - ugly, brutal, but oh so devastatingly effective.
