The Sword - "Gods of the Earth"
(Kemado Records)
The Sword - "Gods of the Earth"
(Kemado Records)
From Aural Innovations #40 (September 2008)
The Austin, Texas band, The Sword, is back with the follow up to their amazing debut, Age of Winters. A split LP with Witchcraft and a live 7" have also come out in the meantime but this is what the real fans, which probably saw this band several times as they toured the debut record for 2 years. Anyway, the great lyrics, cool artwork and killer riffs, nice harmonies are all in place. But what about the songs, guitar solos, riffs... is the band developing? The record starts off with a mellow piece with acoustic guitar leading into the Sundering instrumental track. Next up is Frost Giant's Daughter which we had heard at some of the concerts. Lords is another one of the songs the band had been playing live in the last year as well. Anyway, I won't go through all the songs but let's just say that the songs are not nearly as memorable and you tend to get to the end of the record and not really remember much of a difference. I also was not really happy with the sound production on the vinyl. I also think that the singer, John, his voice has really suffered, from the hard touring and does not sound nearly as strong as on the first record. The vocal is more weak and thin and strained. Anyway, most of the fans will dig this and they will continue to rock live but I had just hoped for better songs and more guitar solos and a better sound. Next time...
You can find more information from the band's MySpace site at Http://www.myspace.com/thesword
Reviewed by Scott Heller