The Sword - Gods of the Earth
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Free Music Notes for Gods of the Earth
Free Music Review: This rules!
Hit: 5 Stars
Awesome 2nd release. Every bit has heavy and hellish as the first.
Bad lyrics? Hahahaha
Free Music Review: Awesome!
Hit: 5 Stars
Great follow up album for The Sword! If you like the first one, you'll love this one!Free Music Review: Far from the sheltering glens
Hit: 4 Stars
As if their name and albums weren't enough to tip you off, the Sword like to do two things: make references to myths and fantasy, and blast your ears off with eruptions of fiery metal.
And in their second album "Gods of the Earth," this Austin band proceeds to do both -- but with greater intensity than in their debut. Not only do they have Black-Sabbath-style muscle and power that sweeps you off like a tidal wave, but also a wild flexibility that only promises to become more hypnotic in the future.
The first song eases you into the music with a nimble, quiet guitar melody... right before that swell of thunderous bass explodes onto the scene, and it turns into a full-fledged metal anthem. But from the way they play it, you can tell that this is just the buildup.
It's followed by the epic buildup and rapid ascent of "How Heavy This Axe," a blazing war anthem ("So many men have fallen/So many more must die/Cut down like wheat beneath the scythe!"), and "Lords'" tight knifelike riffs twined with heavy grimy clouds of bass. And, of course, lyrics that sound like they were written for some enormous high-fantasy novel ("The dukes of the marches have ordered their archers/To shoot all outlanders on sight").
So you have a pretty good idea of what the remaining songs are going to be, and the Sword rushes on through them like a brush fire. A rollicking hard-rocker that simultaneously sounds like a stampede and a car revving, a meditative folk-metal anthem, blazing yowlfests, tribal metal, eruptions of accelerating bass and wild upward-spiraling riffs.
By the time you get to "The White Sea," you'll probably feel kind of dizzy. Fortunately the album finally slows to a stately dark cloud of grimy bass, with one outburst of wailing riffs near the end.
When you get down to it, all the songs on here sound like the soundtrack to some heavy-metal fantasy movie, with a heavy dose of Norse mythology -- lots of bloody battles, mythical goddesses, destroyed ruins, wizards, damsels, legends, creepy forests, and fantastical/mythic stuff like that. And they'll happily blow your ears off too.
"Gods of the Earth" is just as wild, heavy and rock-hard as the Sword's debut album, but they rev up the tempo with this one -- just listen to the speed of "Under the Boughs." We get raw, rough, intertwined basslines race along at sixty MPH, pausing occasionally for the sharp-edged electric riffs, elaborate acoustic bits, and some solid drumming. But the powerful bass playing is what really pushes this epic, fast-moving music along.
JD Cronise's voice gets a bit buried in the mix, but he yowls nicely when you can hear him. The lyrics are probably the weakest point. They're colourful and evocative ("They come with teeth and tusks and talons/They come with horns and hooves and claws/A wailing cry is heard deep within the forest...") but their lyrics get very stilted at times ("Our legends tell of weapons/Wielded by kings of old/Crafted by evil wizards/Unholy to behold").
In fact, they're at their strongest when they don't try too hard, such as in the relatively simple "Maiden, Mother and Crone": "Walk not down that road/I can not tell you where it goes/Ask me no more questions/Some things you weren't meant to know."
"Gods of the Earth" suffers from some awkward lyrics, but their muscular, blazing, D&D-geeky brand of metal is almost powerful enough to drown that out. Definitely worth hearing.
Free Music Review: More from the great riff forgers!
Hit: 4 Stars
The Swords last album, "Age Of Winters" was great! It was a nice unpretentious album that brought metal back down to earth with its Sabbath inspired, retro doom sound. It was also super heavy and filled to the brim with awesome riffs!
"Gods Of The Earth" hits much the same way, only with a few key differences. The boys from Sword have gotten a little more skilled since "Age Of Winters" and it shows in the newfound complexity, leadwork, and speed of the songs. Thats both good and just a little bad.
On the good side, the riffs continue to be phenominal, and make for awesome slabs of heaviness. Even better, the new found technical skill never outshines the music itself, they're not showing off, just applying their newfound speed and tightness to the music, making the songs more complicated and little closer to thrash-metal.
On the bad side, the new, thrashier direction just emphasizes just how weak the singer is. The vocals were never great on "Age Of Winters," but the thin zombie-like vocals worked well enough on AoW because the music was a little more Sabbath than Metallica, and lord knows Ozzy never had that great of a voice.
With the new, tighter, more agressive sound, however, a tighter more agressive singer would really bring those songs to the hieghts they deserve.
But thats a minor complaint. The bottom line is this:
You probably liked the Swords debut because it brought the HEAVY and it brought the RIFFS!!!
"Gods of the Earth" does the same. So enjoy! I know I am.
Free Music Review: Pretty Good
Hit: 4 Stars
I'm always on the lookout for new bands, so I listened to some samples of The Sword on Amazon. Sounded pretty good, so I bought both Cds. About a week later, my wife bought Metallica tickets for my birthday, and, coincidentally, The Sword was one of the opening acts. So, after analyzing the CDs and the concert, I decided to write a review.
First of all, The Sword is pretty good. I agree with most reviewers who say they are sort of like Black Sabbath playing Dungeons and Dragons. The guitars are great! I highly recommend both CDs.
I do have a couple of concerns for any future albums they put out. Does anyone remember the skit on Saturday Night Live where Christopher Walken tells Blue Oyster Cult "I gotta have more cow bell!"? Well, someone must have been in the studio with The Sword saying "I gotta have more cymbals!" Sometimes the cymbals, or least the loudness of them, interfere with the music. I'm no production expert, but to me it was noticeable. Also, the vocals are VERY low. I read some reviews about how this is sort of intentional, like they are a throwback to the 70's. Well, I hate to say it, I don't remember ANY hard rock from the 70's with vocals this low.
But the good far outweighs the bad here, and I look forward to where The Sword goes from here.
As for the concert, they were REALLY good. Just straight up heavy rock. The vocals and cymbals (or lack of) were better live. But I highly recommend both albums.