The Sword Albums (3)
What The Critics Say
When history looks back on the first decade of heavy metal's 21st century resurgence, it will do so through the increasingly vast libraries of Guitar Hero. The Sword unleashed a gloriously unpretentious and multi-hued slab of Black Sabbath-inspired doom-retro-stoner-whatever metal on 2006's Age of Winters, casting out a lure for both current heavy metal fans and those who left the fold when hair metal brought the preeminent outsider music in to be devoured and nearly destroyed by the general public. "Barael's Blade" and "Winter's Wolves" sounded like relics unearthed in the basement of a Birmingham steel mill during the initial New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, a genre that the Austin, TX, quartet seems intent on re-resurrecting on its sophomore release, Gods of the Earth. This time around, however, the bong has been removed, resulting in a less murky, more thrash-oriented journey through time (think Metallica's Kill 'Em All instead of Sabbath's Master of Reality). The riffs are huge, the rhythms are sneaky and brutal, and the "guitarmonies" are effortless, due with little doubt to the band's epic touring schedule. In fact, everything's been turned up, except the vocals. Singer and guitarist John D. Cronise has the spooky tenor and bluesy inflection of "War Pigs"-era Ozzy, but little of the power. Much of that can be blamed on Gods of the Earth's "riff-centric" production, which beats Cronise's voice, despite it being double-tracked, into submission each time it (thinly) tries to rise above the carnage. It's so noticeable that standout cuts like "Maiden, Mother & Crone," "The Frost-Giant's Daughter," and "Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians," the latter of which boasts a title that would make 2112-era Rush red with envy, never reach the nosebleed seats, where they're so obviously aiming and so many potential new fans are sitting. That said, if this had been the Sword's debut, they'd be carrying the tattered flag of the second coming, as there are moments of sick bliss lurking around every key change, deconstructed bridge, and ride-heavy off-rhythm. Third time's a charm, right? ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Coming to grips with the Sword's unlikely genesis in the alternative music Mecca of Austin, TX, leads one to wonder whether heavy metal has finally become hip again. Depending on your generation, nothing will seem as simultaneously preposterous (Gen-X'ers who came of age during pop-metal's heyday and don't recognize it as an unrepresentative anomaly) or obvious (everyone else) when discussing a genre that's spent the bulk of its 35-year history on the absolute fringe of rock culture. If that isn't "alternative," well, what is? In any case, glorifying heavy metal's prototypical qualities is exactly what the Sword is all about, and their 2006 debut, Age of Winters, sees them joining California's High on Fire, Sweden's Witchcraft, and Australia's Wolfmother (to name but a few) at the forefront of what's gradually become known in the mid-'00s as the "heritage" or "retro-metal" movement. No, not stoner rock -- that's sooo ten years earlier! The only thing the Sword and their ilk have in common with most '90s stoner rockers is recognizing that all heavy metal empires are sprung from the Black Sabbath cornerstone, and the token signs can be readily heard in these songs' ominous doom chords (just listen to opener "Celestial Crown" and "Lament for the Aurochs"), pummeling, down-picked staccato riff-runs ("Barael's Blade," "Ebethron"), lyrics about fantasy and legend ("Freya," "The Horned Goddess," etc.), and, finally, those borderline-inadequate, zombie vocals first made acceptable by Ozzy himself. The Sword's singer, JD Cronise, is certainly guilty of the latter, but then that only helps to focus one's attention upon the album's main attraction: its megalithic guitar work. For the record, the Sword spins the evolutionary clock as far forward as '80s thrash, on occasion, resulting in colossal, galloping onslaughts such as "Winter's Wolves" (complete with howling wolves, naturally) and "Iron Swan" (prefaced by delicate melodies of a medieval feel). Yes, you'll probably have to be a certified, stainless steel metalhead to really appreciate the skyscraping riff constructions of "March of the Lor" (an instrumental in eight movements!), but the vast majority of what's on-hand proves remarkably well-balanced and almost suspiciously immediate to the ears. As such, Age of Winters provides neophyte (errr -- alternative?) listeners with as good an entryway as any into the "retro-metal" universe, while also managing to sound refreshing even to calloused heavy metal ears -- this is no small achievement. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
