I’m a huge horror movie buff and I grew up not all that far from Jeffrey Dahmer’s home city of Milwaukee, so this band checked a couple of boxes for me. The Swedish horror punk quartet also already has a slew of releases under their belt and came highly recommended. The Dahmers have been around since 2011, so they even predate the recent ghoulish resurgence in interest in the real life Dahmer. Fortunately, Creepiest Creep is not nearly as scary as their monstrous namesake.

Musically, The Dahmers have more in common with the The Strokes than the Misfits. Their sound definitely owes a debt to the garage rock revival of about 15 years ago. I guess I was expecting harder edged, more straightforward punk. That being said, The Dahmers are good at what they do. What they do is write catchy rock and roll songs that would probably make people other than me dance. The title track is a standout and opens side A of the brief four song EP. It even throws in some saxophone to accentuate the retro vibe. “Reoccurring Dreams” turns up the aggression a bit.

The lyrics are tongue in cheek, not overly gory. If this were a movie, it would barely be PG-13. The vocals and instrumentation have that warm, overdriven, analog sound that probably comes from being recorded on vintage equipment. “Without a Face” starts side B, and is the catchiest of the four songs. “Kiss of Dario” has a surf sound and is a solid closer. Though not exactly what I was expecting, Creepiest Creep is a good listen. I definitely enjoyed it enough to want to dig deeper into The Dahmers.