The Dahmers – Power Pop / Garage Rock

From: Bromölla, Sweden
Genre: Power Pop/Garage Rock

Now here’s one for the power pop fans, hailing from Sweden and the second of two bands we’ve covered this year from the country! Sweden is always a great source if you’re looking for good rock and roll. No emotion, just pure cold-hearted energy as you’d probably expect from the Nordic isles. Forming in 2011, The Dahmers started out with a handful of single releases and cassette demos, showcasing a raw punkish sound channeled through the veil of garage rock. It wasn’t until 2014 however that the band took a turn for the better and having worked on their sound, dropped a couple of fresh well-mastered tracks that were to set the tone for their power-pop-spectacular debut LP Demons.

From the outset, the album dove straight in with ghouly samples, a psychobilly riff, a verse not too distant from classic Undertones and a power poppy “Wherever you go I will follow you” chorus. Rounding off with a gypsie style outro, the track really encompassed a broad range of fundamental punk all in the space of a few seamless minutes. Whereas songs like “Out of Here” were straight from the Ramones playbook, there was room for an overall feel of garage rock as best showcased on “Dead” and with “Down on My Knees” bringing in positively-vibed pop hooks (despite lyrically also having a somewhat negative introspective theme of mental breakdown and insanity). Just take a look at the foursome’s studio photos, where you can see a stereotypical garage punk band in one instance and then see them posing with Misfits-esque makeup and skeleton outfits in the next. Speaking of insanity, there was even a track on the record entitled “I’m Going Insane”, following similar such topics and was, of course, simply pop in its musical element.

Then there was the 30-second Orange County punk homage “Creepy Crawl”, giving a deeper insight into the band’s roots and influences. “Not Good Enough” furthered such observations with more of a punk rock feel, as if Voodoo Glow Skulls had gone power pop. The very subtle ska synth here was a great little layer and wet the whistle for a more foregrounded appearance during “Way Back Home”, with it’s classic formula rock and roll chorus and surf rock feel. The breakdown was very Rancid too, harking back to the band’s early days, which did include some ska sounds.

FAST FORWARD to 2017 and the guys have not let up. In fact we were treated to a couple of really good singles such as the killer 3-track EP “Blood On My Hands” last year and power pop classic “Nightcrawler” just last month – the first track off of their forthcoming LP, which is released on 24th March 2017 and will be entitled… Wait for it… In The Dead Of The Night… Such optimists. We can’t wait to hear what’s next for The Dahmers after such an impressive last few years and urge you to check them out and show your support via the below links!

Thank you for reading. For more follow Rediscover Music on Facebook!