The Black Swamp

For the love of the riff, The Black Swamp have re-hashed a sludge sound reminiscent of the 70's and 90's before heavy metal got all dicky about the genre divides. Live is where TBS thrives, throwing out grooves made for nodding heads and emptying beers. Forming in 2012, and after releasing a small circulation of demo tracks, TBS would release their debut EP 'Foulness' and additional single ‘Cold Dead Hands' in 2014. ‘Foulness’ was cited as “Running not far from the same leagues as Red Fang while providing a lot less fluff and replacing it with Australian fortitude.” - Trendkill Magazine (2014) and “tons of groove and heavy as hell!” – Metal-Roos (2014). Cold Dead Hands was received well with critics also and both of the band’s 2014 releases resulted in multiple stops on the east coast of Australia in their support. The Swamp received warm review of their live show and were cited as having “a stage presence rivalling more established bands, brilliant to behold.” – Murder the Dance (2013) With an underground following forming in “their own corner of the Australian Metal scene,” the band landed international support slots in 2015 starting with American southern metal super-group Hellyeah in Brisbane. They followed the support up with another for Sebastian Bach formerly of Skid Row, opening up their profile to a wider audience. The end of 2015 saw TBS fire up proceedings for Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society at The Tivoli in Brisbane. 2015 also saw a partnership of The Black Swamp’s second love, Beer! After Brisbane’s Bacchus brewing company stumbled upon the band, the brewery crafted a Russian session stout named ‘The Black Swamp’ in their honour. Like the band’s music, it's thick and heavy, (think Guinness) and became available at select shows that the band performed in. In 2016, The Black Swamp released their first full length, 'I Am'. The album was noted to have a rounder soundscape than 2014's EP 'Foulness'. "The Black Swamp dares to dance on flourished melodies that don’t quite reach progressive tendencies but give vague nods to Mastodon and Baroness... Taking relatively simple musical stylings and layering thoughtful leads, and in one case, an organ, serves to give The Black Swamp a very enjoyable sound." - Musically Fresh, (2016). The band embarked on a national tour in support of the album, the 'I Am the Mountain Tour'. They opened their first show in Brisbane to a home-crowd almost one year after their last show in support of BLS, having bunkered down tight to record the LP. Thematically, the band sets out to inspire a beer drenched, blazing good time. Their lyrical content and artwork tackle themes and imagery of space, earth, reflection and of course beers and bloody good times. ----------------------- If the power of the riff compels you, then The Black Swamp probably will too. No reinventing the wheel here, thy riffs runneth over! TBS bring you heavy metal from SE Qld, Australia BOOKINGS: theblackswamp@live.com