BLACK SWAMP WATER – Distant Thunder

Plagued by a downright terribly done mastering job, the new release from Black Swamp Water is an underwhelming, curious collection of Country Metal tracks. On Distant Thunder, we find the band floundering in original yet uninspired songwriting. The all-to-common problem of originality without meaning is at play here and many of the songs, while containing solid riffs and almost-hooks, fail to amount to anything meaningful or memorable. “The High Road” is a good example. The song twists its way through a seemingly random backcountry trail of chord progressions and melodic “gotcha” moments, ultimately leaving the listener wondering if Black Swamp Water had their map upside down the whole time.

As mentioned earlier, the album mastering on Distant Thunder is simply bad. There is so much compression on the drums that all of the mixes sound as if they’re laying in a sizzling pan of hot oil over some lonesome cowboy’s camp fire.

Quite frankly, Distant Thunder is a misstep for Black Swamp Water, as they are a band that is capable of much greater things. Perhaps production was rushed on the album, but this is clearly something that will only serve as a low point marker from which that band can hopefully make a triumphant return.

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