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In case you're that one guy at every show who gets all fussy when somebody mentions them, here's what you need to learn: The Sword rules. Their brand of retro-metal, which has always been conscious of its audible Black Sabbath-y-ness while avoiding revivalism, is both original and—in contrast to the stigma some wayward souls attach to their image—deeply respectful to the history and tradition of heavy metal. That commitment to simultaneously innovating and paying tribute has never been more fully realized than on Warp Riders, their stellar third album, first concept album, and first major stylistic departure. Where previous releases combined the tone and tonality of Sabbath with a Metallica-like rhythmic and structural approach and an almost Manowar-esque commitment to lyrics of battle and fantasy, Warp Riders uses that sound as a spine on which to hang an explosive fusion of metal and psychedelic hard rock, creating an album that recalls the mid-1970s all the way down to its packaging. Threading a delightfully nonsensical science fiction story through ten tracks, Warp Riders calls forth cosmic atmospheres even while limiting itself to hard rock arrangements, allowing its psychedelia to emerge from creative melodies rather than the expected keyboard effects and beatless meandering. The album is structured in two “sides,” as an originally vinyl album would have been, each of which opens with a terrific instrumental and builds to a shifting epic—but through all that structural dynamism, Warp Riders never loses its heaviness. The segue from opening instrumental Acheron/Unearthing the Orb to straight-ahead rocker Tres Brujas is seamless, because The Sword know that even the spaced-out overture to a sci-fi concept album can rock straight ahead. The art of heavy metal is at least half structure, and The Sword know how to apply that principle on an album scale. But they also know how to rock, and clearly prize that above all else; what we've got here is a collection of 70s rock songs too heavy by half for the 70s, woven into a beautifully structured story that's all the more glorious for being incomprehensible. That it's such a huge departure and step up in creativity from their already excellent previous work marks their career, now in full swing, as one to be watched with excitement. |
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Killing Songs : Tres Brujas, Arrows in the Dark, Lawless Lands, Astraea's Dream, (The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire |
Jake quoted 95 / 100 | ||||||||
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