Live Review: Raging Speedhorn w/Kill The Lights and Enquire Within at Camden Underworld!

If you asked Gordon Morison or Frank Regan back in 1998 if they’d still be playing shows in Raging Speedhorn twenty seven years on and they’d have asked you what you’d been smoking. Their 20th Anniversary show with the original line up taking to the stage at Camden Electric Ballroom in 2018 galvanized both the band and their army of fans and despite line up changes since they’ve gone from strength to strength. If 2020’s “Hard To Kill” was a fine example of what they’re capable of, laced with Sludge infused Doom Metal riffs and caustic vocal performances then new album “Nightwolf” is a masterclass in it. Why else would Spinefarm Records be signing up a band of their vintage? Somehow they ain’t dead yet…

London natives Enquire Within [10/10] take to the stage first and give us a blistering rendition of “Final Seal“, their rhythm guitarist showing off a white guitar stained with fake blood as he hammers out the riffs. Vocalist Jacob Waller has got some incredible pipes and seamlessly moves between Traditional Heavy Metal storytelling and Death growls during a pummelling set as they demonstrate exactly why they should be a Bloodstock band. They have the riffs, the songs, the charisma and the talent of a well oiled live machine. Perhaps they’re lacking one song to go viral or to catch a label’s attention but in all honesty, on this evidence alone they should be touring Europe at this point. “Point Of No Return” brings the curtain down on their set and feels like a tour de force of what they have to offer.

Welsh and American Metalcore supergroup Kill The Lights [10/10] feature in their ranks both current and former members of Throw The Fight, Still Remains and Bullet For My Valentine and with that wealth of experience are a joy to behold. As if spurred on by Enquire Within they nail their songs tonight with cuts like “Scapegoat” benefitting from caustic unclean vocal parts from bassist Jason “Jay” James. By comparison, the clean vocal parts are stunning, like chalk and cheese in contrast. Each song has another ten percent more energy squeezed out of it with cuts like “Broken Bones” both faster and heavier than the original. All their collective experience has been poured into this project and tonight it shows, like blood through bandages. The band waste absolutely no time between songs, cramming in as much as humanly possible to maintain an electric energy. It’s like it’s 2003 all over again as their blend of Metalcore is the gift that keeps giving with cuts like “The Enemy” winning the audience over. Sadly Jordan Whelan isn’t here tonight leaving Travis Montgomery to handle all the guitar parts with the band a four piece and he does so taking it all in his stride. A breathless rendition of “The Faceless” concludes their set in style and leaves us wondering when they’re going to get the credit they richly deserve.

Camden Underworld is hotter than Satan’s armpit after twelve rounds with Mike Tyson by the time Raging Speedhorn [10/10] take to the stage but it doesn’t bother the Corby five piece for a second as they smash their way through a set of fuzzy riffs fit for worship soaked in feedback. The last time we witnessed them live Dan Cook’s voice was horse and he appeared to be struggling early on but tonight he’s at his finest, matching Frank Regan’s intensity as the pit goes wild during a career spanning set that leaves no stone unturned in pursuit of Sludge Metal madness. Six fresh cuts from new album “Nightwolf” are given an airing but none of them are played back to back, the band instead going straight for the jugular and then maintaining a vicious momentum. “Every Night’s Alright for Fighting” is the obvious choice for a set opener and pummels the naysayers into submission with ease. Every inch the scream-a-long anthem “Hard To Kill” has become a staple of the notoriously well lubricated live machine, as essential older cuts like “Redweed” and “Superscud“. Cook bounces around the stage like a man possessed, headbanging in between some bowel clenching Death Metal style lows while Regan watches over the mosh pit with a knowing smile, happy still to be f***ing s**t up after so long. “Spitfire” and “Buzz Killa” are particularly fierce tonight, the rumbling bass and non stop riffage creating a tar pit of sludge for the crowd to climb out of. By the end there isn’t a dry body in the house, blood, sweat and booze the classic combination of stains on everyone’s shirts. As an album “Nightwolf” is a triumphant return to the studio after five long years and as a live band, the new line up are every bit as good as those that came before them. Long live the Kings. All hail Raging Speedhorn.