The Sword "Age of Winters" (Kemado)
By Kenny Irwin
Tuesday. Feb 07, 1:46 AM
Fucking perfect classic Sabbath and Sleep riffs!

About The Sword, taken from the band’s Myspace page: “Before forging the blade, the swordsmiths underwent fasting and ritual purification. They then worked at their anvils in white clothes, like the robes of the priests. Their efforts were well rewarded. The final result was a blade of unparalleled craftsmanship. Its edge is made of metal so hard that it holds a razor sharpness even after repeated use in battle.” Holy Shit, how amazing is that? Yeah, although it really has nothing to do with the band’s music, the description has everything to do with the band itself. These stoner kids from Austin listen to a lot of Black Sabbath and watch a ton of Conan, even the second one: Conan The Barbarian with Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlin. When I got Age of Winters, I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a song dedicated to Crom or at least Conan himself.

The Sword are four guys from Austin, TX who have been making noise around the hard rock/metal community for over a year or so. They previously released a three-song demo that made heavy metal listeners everywhere drooling for more. A lot of bands are trying to master that old rock sound, but The Sword’s classic-Sabbath-meets-Sleep combo is just so fucking perfect. From the slow chugging grooves and dueling battle riffs to the echoed singing, The Sword have actually made this new album sound as though it came out in the late ‘70s. Nine songs rounding out to about 43 minutes, Age of Winters is one of those complete albums that is amazing from start to finish.

Opening track “Celestial Crown” is a perfect intro, with the guitars beginning the song as slowly as they possibly can. Once the rest of the band kicks in, complete with some type of ‘70 electric guitar fade-in, you’ll be nodding your head and quickly looking around for the bong. Drummer Trivett Wingo quickly switches it up nicely, though, bringing track two “Barael’s Blade” in powerfully. This is the first time we hear from guitarist/vocalist JD Cronise, and when he brings the Medieval lyrics upon you, it’s complete with talks of wizards and blades (“behold… the Bastards Blade!”). Dungeons and Dragons treated these kids well, eh? The Sword’s bluesy influence is heard right away on “Freya,” which has an intro similar to a lot of the new Clutch stuff (which rules). This dark stoner theme is carried throughout the entire album, complete with a cover that looks like an old school black light poster of a hot blonde in some weird Egyptian setting, as well as in the titles of the next couple of songs: “Winter’s Wolves,” “The Horned Goddess,” and “Iron Swan” (whose mellow intro brings the thought of getting high in the dessert… but maybe that’s just me?).

The end of the album gets even better, taking everything to the extreme where the slow becomes slower, the fast becomes faster, and goddamn do the solos get tighter! “Lament For the Aurochs” is just freaking sick. The longest song in length, it’s almost eight-minutes and opens with a sick Mastodon-esque drum fill and then guitarist Kyle Shutt’s attempt to see how many riffs he can fit in one song. When this very High On Fire/C.O.C. number finally fades out, in comes the fastest, heavy as hell Slayer-ish “March of the Lor” which – like the opener – does not have any vocals. Closer “Eberthron” bangs in with a groovy bass line from Bryan Richie and a sweet mini Bonham drum solo in the middle that you think is gonna end but – nope – time for one more jam session and screaming!

I don’t care who you are and what kind of music you are into, blah blah blah: go and get Age of Winters now. Keith and co. over at Kemado are doing amazing things, and signing The Sword was the smartest move because, believe me, you will be hearing about these guys everywhere in no time. Do not miss The Sword live as they are out on tour now with Early Man and Priestess, and later on with Tarantula AD. SWEET SHOWS!!!
www.swordofdoom.com
www.kemado.com

Listen to a song from this album in our Radio section!

Kenny Irwin

Got something constructive to say? By all means, rant away. Gonna blab about something unrelated and/or talk shit? Don't expect your comment to stick around.