THE MIGHTY SWINE
The Mighty Swine
Broad HorizonTrack listing:
01. Everlast
02. Layin' Down The Law
03. Human Sacrifice
04. My Luv 4 U
05. Madam Adam
06. Your Own Creation
07. Light Of Day
08. Lost
09. Why Tell Me Why
10. Sunshine Of Your Love
Considering the stacks upon stacks of CDs that are sent in for review, occasionally it is an album cover and a band name that causes one to spin a disc, at least as far as independent releases and albums on tiny labels are concerned. Precious time does not allow a spin of every disc received. If any critic dealing in high volume CD traffic tells you different, then he/she is lying. Such was the case with THE MIGHTY SWINE's self-titled debut album. As it turns out, such selection methods are riddled with faulty logic.
Formed by bassist/vocalist Mike Skimmerhorn (ex-CJSS/CHASTAIN) for the sole purpose of playing loud guitar rock, THE MIGHTY SWINE accomplishes that purpose, albeit to often mediocre results. The style is straight up riff-heavy rock with basic song construction and generally effective, if middle of the road, soloing. Skimmerhorn's vocals are not exactly pitch perfect, but are a bit better than tolerable. The first several songs — "Everlast", "Layin' Down the Law", and "Human Sacrifice" — are fairly strong, even approaching sizzling in the riff/lead department. A drumming style that is basic to a fault; the awful '80s drum production makes it seem worse than it is though. A couple of other tunes like "Your Own Creation" and "Lost" aren't bad either. But the rather odd acoustic/electric detour of "Madam Adam" goes south quickly and the chorus of "My Luv 4 U" is irksome at best, even though the tracks' swing is moderately attention-grabbing. "Why Tell me Why" just doesn't work. The cover of CREAM's "Sunshine of your Love" is at least passable.
Even with the misses, THE MIGHTY SWINE has a generally likeable in-your-face quality and there are moments you can hear what is most likely a strong live act, the kind that would go over well in a packed bar where the beer flows like a river. Whether that's enough to justify the purchase of a very average rock album is debatable.