Retrospective: The Sword

I began this Retrospective of The Sword back in September of 2010, after the release of Warp Riders, but after a strong beginning, the article fell by the wayside. Although I was excited as hell to listen to the new album, for some reason I didn't get around to it until December. By that point I had been writing reviews like mad, trying to get everything I wanted to listen to heard before the end of the year, so I banged out a review for Warp Riders and that was that. Well here we are in February and I re-discovered this half-finished article. And because I've been banging through CDs like crazy I figured I could take a couple of hours out of my morning and finish the Retrospective.

I was lucky enough to see The Sword when they opened for Clutch about two years ago now. It was in support for their (then) new album, Gods of The Earth, and they ripped it open. At this point I hadn't heard much of the new album (if at all, I didn't even know they were opening for Clutch until the day before), and only knew the words of two of the songs off of Age of Winters (just like now), but I still had a good time. I have that concert written down somewhere, I should find that and post it up here...if I ever find it that is.

Age of Winters - 2006
I'm not going to lie, the only reason I even heard of this group and their fist album, Age of Winters, initially is because of Guitar Hero. Having "Freya" as a playable track was a great idea by this band, and the song became one of my most played of the game (even though it was hard as hell to pull off). Well, however I heard it I was in love with the sound. Their blending of doom vocals with a more upbeat musical sound (which I later heard called stoner and I agreed) was pretty new to me at the time. Although I have heard this album several times, I have the hardest time understanding what the fuck the singer is saying. The only songs I know any amount of words to is "Freya" (guess why) and "Barael's Blade." That's it. The rest is a jumbled mess of wailing and guitars. But it still blasts my ear-drums and I love it. Some of my metal friends can't stand the singer's style, but I like the uniqueness of it all. Other stand-out tracks include "The Horned Goddess" and "March of The Lor." As a side note I like the pseudo-folk of their music too. I know it's not folk metal in the least, but the songs (at least by the titles and what little of the lyrics I can pick out) sing of the folk/power metal symbolism of war and ancient gods. I feel that this adds to their charm for me.

New Album: The Sword - Warp Riders

Also seen on Heavy Planet:

I don't know why I put this one off for so long, I loved the past two albums by The Sword, and I was ecstatic to finally get my copy... but for some reason it just never happened. I started to write a Retrospective for the group, going back to Age of Winters, then onto Gods of The Earth, then finally to Warp Riders, but that got stalled after just the first album. I will finish the article that I have half written, but that's for a later date and I really want to listen to this album before the end of the year.
I saw The Sword live about two years ago, opening for Clutch (my favorite band), and it was a surprise - mostly because I didn't think to look at who was opening the show - but also because I hadn't expected the group to jam as hard as they did. It was just as hard to understand they lyrics live as it is on their album (at the time having just released Gods of The Earth), but the band was amazing. I jumped with the crowd, I sang along to the two songs I knew the words to ("Freya" and "Barael's Blade"), and I moshed with the numerous fans of The Sword and Clutch. Good times. I have high hopes for this album.