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Cincinnati, Ohio's The Mighty Swine is a band founded by bassist Mike Skimmerhorn, frequent collaborator with guitarist David Chastain in Chastain and CJSS. Unlike his work with Chastain, which is more US Power Metal in nature, The Mighty Swine play down-and-dirty Heavy Metal/Hard Rock and, despite a band name that doesn't exactly scream "cool," kick a fair amount of ass on their 2014 album, Last Man Standing.

As I stated, this is pretty trad stuff with the songs structured around big power chords and thundering bass lines. There isn't a lot of guitar twiddling though the solos are excellent. The pounding "Thick as Thieves" and the slow, monolithic "Rite of Passage" are the kind of songs that beg to be played in the car with the windows down and volume at 11. The same goes for the spot-on cover of Priest's "Hell Bent for Leather." There are some filler tracks which keeps Last Man Standing from being superlative, but even those aren't terrible, you'll just want them to be over so you can get to "Last Man Standing" or "Vengeance is Mine." Some of the lyrics are pro-U.S. in an exaggerated, over-the-top way and may put some people off but, as with any good Metal, the music speaks for itself.

If you like the recent output of Accept or early Krokus, Ozzy Osborne and AC/DC, Last Man Standing is definitely worth a listen.