For any sporting or physically demanding endeavour it is advisable to go into some sort of training. With music it is not a requirement that is until you come up against the new album from Swedish rock ‘n’ horror fiends, The Dahmers. The band has just released Down In The Basement, a beast of a record bursting with eighteen tracks of rock ‘n’ roll fever as ferociously energetic as it is virally infectious. From its first heartbeat to its last the bands third full-length is an insatiable incitement keeping the body rigorously and eagerly bouncing. It is relentless, exhausting, and pure pleasure from start to finish.
Bromölla hailing, the Dahmers has been no strangers to keen attention having released a pair of ear enticing albums in Demons (2015) and In the Dead of Night (2017). Each has shown and evolved a sound which is bred on a patchwork of numerous flavours ranging from garage and classic punk to vintage rock ’n’ roll, sixties pop and garage rock. Each of those releases certainly pleased ears but have now been imply blown out of the crypt by the simply irresistible and irrepressible Down In The Basement.
With a mass of tracks the size Down In The Basement offers you would expect a few fillers here and there but they are conspicuous by their absence; from the opening surge of Blood On My Hands the album a full-on meal of prime cuts. The first track bursts into life on a tide of voice and guitar bred persuasion, straight away twisting and turning like a dervish whilst unleashing a wave of catchy mischief. The vocals of Christoffer Karlsson lead the way in manipulation but more than matched by his and fellow guitarist Josef Underdal’s devious hooks and the rhythmic salaciousness of bassist Tobias Augustsson and drummer Karl-Oskar Hansson. Something akin to The Hives meets Asylums the track simply stomped into ears and the passions setting the album off on a mighty course.
The following Murder Ride is just as reckless and tenacious in its own punk infused charge, sending insistent grooves and rapacious hooks through ears with a fifties rock ‘n’ roll meets seventies punk irreverence before Street Of the Dead brings its garage rock/indie pop boisterous to the already devilish party. More reserved than its predecessors but just as equipped with ripe catchiness, the song had the body fully employed in no time.
Across the classic hard rock tinted antics of Down On My Knees and the corrupted boogie woogie nurtured devilment of The Ripper new flavours and rascality sweeps across Down In The Basement, The Dahmers already revealing their most diverse web of sound which Hit ‘N’ Run exploits for its contagion loaded adrenaline fuelled punk ‘n’ roll romp. All three tracks infested body and spirit with ease, the latter mercilessly before Howling merged the rock ‘n’ roll decades with its nefarious holler for a matching success.
As suggested the album is a perpetual rush of treats which simply continue with the revengeful punk ‘n’ roll of I Spit On Your Grave and the fiendish infestation of Demon Night. Both had the body twisting like a possessed soul, their pop seeded rascality pure manipulation and inescapable corruption in the outstanding second of the pair.
Classic rock gets a nudge within next up Creepiest Creep, another track with hooks and grooves which worm under the skin like invaders into a six foot buried offering while Reoccurring Dreams is just a punk rock scourge of temptation draped with surf molestation. Both make a play for best track honours though already the list is a fair size and only about to grow as Without a Face declares its option through a sixties pop ‘n’ rock spiced saunter abound with rousing vocals and rhythms heated with fiery melodic flames.
The cinematic breath of Kiss of Dario has the imagination as busy as ever, Man Obsessed straight after sparking grinning lips as it flirts with Blondie for its prime hook as it teases an already lustful appetite for the album. Even so both are outshone by the voracious rock ‘n’ roll rascality of No One and a quite glorious cover of the Devo masterpiece, Social Fools. Both tracks show The Dahmers at their most irresistible, the first a prize roar of their untamed imagination and boldness, its successor of their inimitable punk ‘n’ roll enterprise which did not improve on an existing gem but certainly re-energised its might.
The final pair of November with its deceptively calm sixties hued, pop coated calm and dark instrumental The End brings the album to a magnetic close. The last track is another moment of cinematic intimation, an industrial creased piece which replaced a bouncing body with an imagination conjuring suggestiveness to keenly intrigue.
Down In The Basement is a momentous offering from a band due bigger and broader attention; it is not just us saying that but a collection of tracks which demand your soul.
Down In The Basement is out now via Lövely Records across most online stores.
Upcoming Live Dates:
02/11 – Skövde In Rock Fest Skövde, SWE
03/11 – Halloween Meltdown Eskilstuna, SWE
04/11 – Kulsturkvarteret Kristianstad, SWE
15/11 – Cinema Aalst, BEL*
16/11 – Dusseldorf Ratinger Hof, GER*
17/11 – Eindhoven Helldorado, NL*
* Supporting The Dwarves
https://www.facebook.com/Dahmers/
Pete RingMaster 26/10/2018
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
Subsequent singles Crushing On Cynthia and recently No Ambition which came out earlier this year, continued the ascent in reputation and sound of Autopsy Boys, though each is now outshone by Song For Debbera. The single is the start of big things for the band. It is the debut song from their upcoming second album Revenge of the acid casualty auto humans and the first of five singles which will be accompanied by music videos depicting a chaotic 24 hours in suburbia, they being endorsed and distributed by B-movie legends Troma Entertainment.
this all wrapped in an anthemic infectiousness. It is a bitch slap of a start awakening attention and appetite ready for offerings like Victim To Be which instantly takes over. Teasing with a potent melody initially, the song erupts, relaxes with that first coaxing once more, and erupts again with a cantankerous and energetic stroll of spiky pop punk. Quinn stamps his vocal feet across the song, backed well by the mellower tones of both Pretus and Talbot, whilst beats and hooks similarly have an attitude to match the character of the vocals. The potency of the album’s opening continues with the song and is soon elevated thanks to the agitated character and imagination of Breakfast. It twists, flirts, and storms the barricades with precise hooks and snarling belligerence providing another inescapably catchy provocation.
mix of UK’s The Duel and Mongrel from the US, plundering ears with a throaty bass line aligned to increasingly rapier like beats as Felony roams their frame with her ever fiery and magnetic vocals. The track continues to antagonise and flirt with thoughts and passions, reinforcing their swift allegiance as the guitar of Nasty conjures wicked hooks amongst the abrasive sonic avenging to ensure even deeper satisfaction.
whilst teasing and tempting them with brawling vocals, lethal hooks, and a contagious breath. The fiery groove which frequents the song throughout is the first encounter for the ear soon joined by punchy rhythms and a rich growling bassline. As eager as it is hungry, the song rampages through the ear without a much respite from its corrosive riffs and melodic sparks, yet still teases and taunts with a wonderful adventure to its gait and prowl. Within a restrained yet intimidating deep breath in aggression, the band also brings a sensational diversion sculpted by imagination and ingenuity which seduces and eats the passions with equal strength to the marauding sounds elsewhere. Ending as it began with a further hardcore scowl to the vocals and intensity to its punk rock abrasion, the song is an immense first confrontation to band and EP.