Sweatmaster

Sweatmaster
“More!”
Release Date: 11/14/2025
More! (Svart Records)
Release Date: 1/30/2026
by Scott Hefflon

With ample cowbell, Sweatmaster return after a 15 year hiatus, and have lost none of their tightly-coiled danger. Finnish garage rock at its finest, anyone who remembers Bad Afro’s Pushing Scandinavian Rock to the Man series will know these are the goods. While comparisons to The Hives are obvious (because most people don’t know many other garage rock bands), I’d play it with the nastier Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Randy’s underrated Human Atom Bomb, and 2017’s surprise attack of V by The Bronx. Sasu Mykkänen’s vocals always take me a moment to get used to, like The Offspring’s Dexter Holland’s reaching vocals, but it’s a welcome alternate to diva oversinging and post-emo boys screaming to show they’ve got a pair.  “More!” is more mid-tempo, thigh-slapping rock than frantic jangle usually associated with garage rock, but it reminds of their classic “I Am a Demon and I Love Rock’n’Roll.” 

Links:
Instagram
Facebook
Website