Black Swamp Water

Hellride EP

Written by: PP on 22/03/2015 22:44:32

Hailing from Silkeborg, Denmark, Black Swamp Water market themselves as southern styled hard rock influenced by the big guns in the genre from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. That's pretty much how they sound like as well on their debut EP "Hellride", which draws from everyone from Stone Temple Pilots to Down, Black Label Society and, of course, classic Guns N' Roses material. They have an experienced lineup which also reads the ex-drummer of Dawn Of Demise/Illdisposed Kim Lankjær Jensen among its member list.

Basically, the band play southern-flavored hard rock that's very focused on riffs and grooves. With solid production values, the band are able to lift a decent experience out of average songs that may not fail anything in terms of instrumental proficiency, but fall short on most other metrics. The primary one being interesting material. The songs being as derivative as they are by their nature, they would need far more charisma to make a proper impact. SuperCharger, their closest counterparts nationally, have been writing this type of music very successfully over the years, and Black City also offered an energetic take on the genre that made it a worthwhile listen. But that magic is simply missing here. The songs don't say much to the listener and just drone forward with their barbecue flavor and standard fare clean vocals that are exactly as southern styled as all the 90s alternative rock bands used to be. They aren't catchy enough, and in general feel rather nothing saying compared to the highlight releases in the genre.

But with production values in order and clear instrumental ability, Black Swamp Water have a good starting point on "Hellride" EP nonetheless. The whole package feels professional and like a finished product, so the only thing missing is honing the songwriting process to result in more interesting tracks. Right now, it's too generic without offering any other qualities to distract you from the fact.

6

Download: Time To Die
For the fans of: Supercharger, Stone Temple Pilots, Down, Black Label Society, Black City
Listen: Facebook

Release date 06.11.2014
Self-Released

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