The Black Swamp Rats formed in Bowling Green, Ohio in 2010. Their sound falls somewhere between 90s Grunge and Stoner Rock. Comparisons include a bluesy Dinosaur Jr and the PIXES on steroids. Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Queens of the Stone Age are all influences.

Year of the Black Swamp Rats is the 10 song debut album from the Black Swamp Rats on Cytoblast Records.

The members of the Black Swamp Rats have been fixtures of the northwest Ohio live music scene for years. After finalizing its current line-up (stocked with members from such past local music legends as Kitty Giltter, Smoke Theory, and Analog Revolution), they have been bringing their ferocious mix of heavy 90s alternative rock, hard core punk, heavy blues rock, and metal to a wide variety of shocked and recently deafened bar patrons and innocent passers-by.

Still, they didn’t consider it enough to just reign down waves of distortion and noise on their fans and on the unsuspecting drinkers who simply wandered into their neighborhood tavern unaware they would be introduced to the soothing sounds of rude yet sophisticated high volume rock and roll. No, greater destiny called. So, after months of sweaty rehearsals in a basement deep in northwest Ohio’s black swamp, they descended upon Happyland Studios in an undisclosed location outside of Waterville, Ohio to record their debut album.

In a mere ten hours, The Black Swamp Rats had, with the assistance of engineer extraordinaire E.J. Wells, recorded, mixed, and mastered ten shiny new recordings. Ranging from the bluesy Stones/punk vibe of “Saw You Shakin’,” to the alternatively lilting and smashing instrumental “Naugahyde,” to the surf rock meets death metal smash of “Crawlin’,” the album truly catches the range, energy, and skill of this band of rogue musicians…plus it’s damn catchy. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.