The Sword
High Country
Razor & Tie
2015
With all due respect, the only Sword, I give a f@ck about, are the Canadian motherf@cking metallers so these guys I never really had any real affection for until now that is as with this fifth album of theirs they have become a little more interesting and friendly to my ears in a way. There was always a Sabbath influence, with these guys, which is now even more streamlined, to more basic and primal forms, levitating more towards rock jams, than anything else… but at the same time they seem more rocking and less stoner without completely abandoning their sound, altogether.
“Unicorn Farm” is a groovy intro that’s quite modernist and funky, just as the quite Lizzy meets Sabbath-esque “Empty Temples” does, with less of a modern flair however.
“High Country” is a bit more cult with the occasional “southern” reference… actually not half as bad but hardly original... however the band pocket another nice tune with the more dazed, than confused “Tears Like Diamonds”.
“Mist of Shadow” is actually another slow jam and a good addition to the bands catalogue at that… very 70s...
“Agartha” is an eerie instrumental interlude, while “Seriously Mysterious” without being horrible is too funky to actually stick with the rest of the material...
“Suffer No fools” is another instrumental a more spaced out jam this time... that leads to “Early Snow”, which has a nice riff but not much else... while “Silver Petals” is a the pastoral instrumental of the album (obligatory or not is beyond me)...
“Ghost Eye” is some more lazy stoned out jam, that’s not bad, while “Turn to Dust” feels like some 60s hippy rock, thing just a lot darker... actually quite nice… not entirely different but nodding more towards 70s proto-rock/metal stuff like “Dust” etc. is the album closer “The Bees of Spring”, which is also another worthy addition to the bands catalogue…
In their effort to go down a Kyuss, Clutch path the band will probably, befuddle its own fans with this release… and in the process appeal to me a bit more than they did previously, which was very little... I find this facet of the band more appropriate… at any rate, when I think Sword, I think of “F.T.W” so…
“Unicorn Farm” is a groovy intro that’s quite modernist and funky, just as the quite Lizzy meets Sabbath-esque “Empty Temples” does, with less of a modern flair however.
“High Country” is a bit more cult with the occasional “southern” reference… actually not half as bad but hardly original... however the band pocket another nice tune with the more dazed, than confused “Tears Like Diamonds”.
“Mist of Shadow” is actually another slow jam and a good addition to the bands catalogue at that… very 70s...
“Agartha” is an eerie instrumental interlude, while “Seriously Mysterious” without being horrible is too funky to actually stick with the rest of the material...
“Suffer No fools” is another instrumental a more spaced out jam this time... that leads to “Early Snow”, which has a nice riff but not much else... while “Silver Petals” is a the pastoral instrumental of the album (obligatory or not is beyond me)...
“Ghost Eye” is some more lazy stoned out jam, that’s not bad, while “Turn to Dust” feels like some 60s hippy rock, thing just a lot darker... actually quite nice… not entirely different but nodding more towards 70s proto-rock/metal stuff like “Dust” etc. is the album closer “The Bees of Spring”, which is also another worthy addition to the bands catalogue…
In their effort to go down a Kyuss, Clutch path the band will probably, befuddle its own fans with this release… and in the process appeal to me a bit more than they did previously, which was very little... I find this facet of the band more appropriate… at any rate, when I think Sword, I think of “F.T.W” so…