| The Sword Gods of the Earth |
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 | Tracklist:
1. The Sundering
2. How Heavy This Axe
3. Lords
4. Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians
5. To Take the Black
6. Maiden, Mother & Crone
7. Under the Boughs
8. The Black River
9. The White Sea
| Ranking: #44 for 2008 | |
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On 12 Lists
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| Summary: Black Sabbath + Lord of the Rings + faster, thrashier sound = The Sword's second album. |
1 of 1 thought this review was well written
Black Sabbath, as most people know, were the first heavy metal band (although that is debatable but I won't get into that). They often had very politically driven lyrics, as several of their songs, most notably War Pigs, were anti-war. They sang about many other topics, including Christianity, but what Sabbath were most known for was their incredibly heavy guitar work. Many bands have attempted to emulate the droning, doomish riffs of Black Sabbath, and the heavily Sabbath influenced band I'm talking about in this review is The Sword.
To some, The Sword may seem like a typical Sabbath ripoff. The vocalist obviously tries to sound sort of like Ozzy Osbourne, and the guitar work is like the album Paranoid, except much faster. Whereas Sabbath sang about war and such, The Sword have Dungeons and Dragons themed lyrics that are, unlike Dragonforce, very well written and all around cool. Although songs about axes and wizards and dark rivers get old after a while, the band keeps things interesting with stunning musicianship. The guitars are easily the best thing about Gods of the Earth. As I mentioned earlier, it's like Black Sabbath except sped up. The Sword incorporate a thrashy sound to their music, so it's like an Ozzy-era Black Sabbath/first two albums by Metallica hybrid. The drumming is like Bill Ward, except faster and a bit more insane. There are several parts where the drummer just goes crazy, although I feel the drummer was in the spotlight, therefore better, on the band's previous album, which was also their debut, Age of Winters.
The best song on the album is the opener, which comes along after the insanely heavy instrumental, How Heavy This Axe. It's everything good about this band: It's heavy, it's fast, it's got great vocals, amazing musicianship, and a memorable chorus. It too sounds very thrashy, much like many other songs on the album. I feel that the biggest improvement over their debut was the addition of a thrashy sound. It's not like Overkill or D.R.I., but it's got a thrash feel to it.
One thing that The Sword excels at is making well-thought out, awe-inspiring instrumentals. So far, each of their albums have opened with an instrumental song and of the two, the one found on Gods of the Earth is easily my favorite. A lot of times, the instrumental opener is usually a softer set-up for the heaviness that is to come, but not on this album. This song is a two minute explosion of unrelenting heaviness and crushing riffs that could make one's ears bleed, but in a good way. The closer of Gods of the Earth is also an instrumental number, entitled The White Sea, which is an epic, seven minute masterpiece with everything about The Sword all in one song. Some parts of so heavy they could smash you, and some parts are soft and melodic, but no matter what, the song is consistently stellar, and is the second best song on the album.
The Sword definitely has potential to become the next big thing in metal. Their second album, Gods of the Earth, is the band's best album so far, and I have high expectations for upcoming releases. The Sword isn't for everyone. Some will see them as a shameless rip-off of the glorious Black Sabbath. However, I find them to be an excellent band that uses their Black Sabbath influences in a good way while adding their own sound into the mix. I highly recommend them.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 4
I didn't proofread this so it's probably filled with mistakes and stuff. I like this band, but none of you would probably like them.
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i think metallica mixed with Black Sabbath would be very very bad. Still good review.
| | | Album Rating: 4
This doesn't sound like Ozzy singing Master of Puppets or something. It's a lot better than that.
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I understand that, still it would be a tad awkward.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I highly enjoy this album, as you can see by my review, but I wouldn't really say this was faster. Its fairly slow in tempo throughout actually. I kind of disagree on most of what you say about the music, while they are all extremely competent musicians, I wouldn't label the drums as "insane" or guitars "thrashey", splendid as they may be.
Though this album was great, a 4.5 is just a smidge high in my opinion, but to each his own.
Good review though.
Digging: City of Ships - Look What God Did To Us | | |
these guys are touring with Metallica actually.
Digging: Gunther - Pleasureman
| | | Album Rating: 4
@ SHOOTME: Doesn't matter. This band is good. But they don't seem like your thing.
Yeah, I'd love to see them with Metallica but they aren't playing in the south. =/This Message Edited On 08.15.08
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Off topic but, as a fellow (unfortunate) inhabitant of the south, I think we should start a petition to get bands to come down here. The Sword is coming through Atlanta and then Texas actually in October I believe.
| | | Album Rating: 4
Yeah, I'd go to the Atlanta show but it's on a Wednesday. No shows on school nights. =(
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I was meaning to get this actually. I enjoyed their debut. Good review.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
i like this album and their previous one. theyre nothing amazing but they make solid Sabbath influenced metal. i saw them open for Trivium a few years back and they were really good and heavy.
Digging: Junius - The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist | | | Album Rating: 3.5
Thought it was on a Thursday...dang...well can't go that either. Don't have school on Fridays so that's opened up a lot of concert opportunities (college is awesome).
On another note, I don't really think J.D. Cronise sounds like Ozzy at all really, with the exception of how the vocals are produced with the overdubs and such, his voice is much lower and kind of has a slower southern drawl-ish quality to it. (I can see how people would think that though)
| | | Album Rating: 4
He sounds sort of like Ozzy but not too much like him. He has an original voice.
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too many ratings above bad
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Looks like I'm going to check this out. Their debut was pretty good, and this sounds better than that.
Digging: Death - Scream Bloody Gore
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Freya = great
Digging: PSY/OPSogist - Kings Of Sleep
| | | Album Rating: 3
I was liking this when it first came out. Its much better then age of winters, which was a little bit too generic for me. But it doesn't have much staying power. I cant even remember the last time I listened to this.
Digging: The Flaming Lips - Embryonic | | |
I don't really like the singer all that much.
Digging: Say Anything - Say Anything
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This is not good.
Digging: blink-182 - The Mark, Tom, And Travis Show
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bad review needs moar neg.
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