The Dismal Swamp Lords could be any bar band. They also could be your favorite bar band just as easily. Their bluesy rock pulls few punches, they just hold steady on their righteous path. They let their southern rock influences bleed into the slide guitar powered blues. They rely on a power trio to trudge through tracks like “Black Crow Blues” with a thick sound with a deep low end.

On the short instrumental “I Married A Marxist” they take the swamp to the beach for a little Ventures inspired number before getting back to the business at hand on “Lucky Charms.” The slide guitar intro to “Lucky Charms” lets it shine more than anywhere else on the record, highlighting the band’s most distinct feature. “The Devil Does The Driving” has a solid strut and plenty of attitude, the  clear and very matter-of-fact vocal delivery pushes all the focus onto the stompy music which is the band’s greatest strength.

The Dismal Swamp Lords are luckily far from dismal, there may not be a ton to set them apart from any solid blues-rock band you hear but there is no reason to think they are any worse either. This EP is a solid listen with good production and a nice clean sound, it should be interesting to see what the power trio could do over the course of an entire album.

Key Tracks: “The Devil Does The Driving” “Lucky Charms”