Belgian metal outfit Speed Queen hit you with a ‘Showdown’

Speed Queen from Limburg in Belgium are not to be confused with the French band of the same name from the early 1980s. Founded in 2014, an initial demo was followed by two EPs, »King Of The Road« (Babylon Doom Cult Records, 2017) and their High Roller debut »Still On The Road« in 2020. The band consists of Thomas Kenis (vocals, tambourine), Andreas Stieglitz (guitars, synths), Lander Savelkoul (bass) and Toon Driezen (drums).

“We started as a bunch of greasy teenagers discovering our dad’s record collection”, laughs bassist Lander Savelkoul talking about the early days of the band. “Like the youngsters we were, we found out we could get free entrance and beers at concerts by playing there, and when we saw people actually liked what we were doing – shit got real!”

Speed Queen have been together for more than ten years now and have played numerous festivals (from Wacken Open Air to the Alcatraz Festival) and did some tours with, amongst others, Night Demon. “We like to think that rock‘n’roll has to be fun and invigorating in the first place,” adds Lander, “and that’s what we try to bring to the stage – a fast, energetic show with no pauses. We’re bringing a whole new live show along with this new release.”

The new release we are talking about is »…With a Bang!«, Speed Queen‘s full-length debut album (released on High Roller Records). “This album has been cooking for quite some time,” explains the bassist. “We started working on these songs after »King Of The Road« was released and in between live shows, after a pandemic and line-up change, we are finally ready to release them to the world. Also, it’s a cliché but we’ve grown as a band and you can hear that we’re more comfortable playing these songs.”

“»…With a Bang!« is very much meant to be a powerful, ‘in your face’ record,” continues Lander. “The songs are different from our previous releases in the sense that they have more ‘oempf’, there is more variation and we don’t shy away from spicing this up with an extra layer here and there.”

Jonny Nesta of Thunderor and Skull Fist appears as a guest musician playing some guitar solos on the record. “Like Yngwie Malmsteen said: more is more,” muses Speed Queen‘s bass player, “but for us it’s a heavy metal record, not a guitar record.“

to be released sept 5 via High Roller Records

Tracklist:

01. 5678
02. Showdown
03. I Want It
04. Eye to Eye
05. Chasing Ghosts
06. I Walk Alone
07. Skygazers
08. The World Ends Tonight
09. Time to Go
10. Fire

Line-up:
Thomas Kenis – Vocals, Tambourine
Andreas Stieglitz – Guitars, Synths
Lander Savelkoul – Bass
Toon Driezen – Drums