When history looks back on the first decade of heavy metal's 21st century resurgence, it will do so through the increasingly vast libraries of
Guitar Hero
.
The Sword
unleashed a gloriously unpretentious and multi-hued slab of
Black Sabbath
-inspired doom-retro-stoner-whatever metal on 2006's
Age of Winters
, casting out a lure for both current heavy metal fans and those who left the fold when hair metal brought the preeminent outsider music in to be devoured and nearly destroyed by the general public.
"Barael's Blade"
and
"Winter's Wolves"
sounded like relics unearthed in the basement of a Birmingham steel mill during the initial New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, a genre that the Austin, TX, quartet seems intent on re-resurrecting on its sophomore release,
Gods of the Earth
. This time around, however, the bong has been removed, resulting in a less murky, more thrash-oriented journey through time (think
Metallica
's
Kill 'Em All
instead of
Sabbath
Master of Reality
). The riffs are huge, the rhythms are sneaky and brutal, and the "guitarmonies" are effortless, due with little doubt to the band's epic touring schedule. In fact, everything's been turned up, except the vocals. Singer and guitarist
John D. Cronise
has the spooky tenor and bluesy inflection of
"War Pigs"
-era
Ozzy
, but little of the power. Much of that can be blamed on
's "riff-centric" production, which beats
Cronise
's voice, despite it being double-tracked, into submission each time it (thinly) tries to rise above the carnage. It's so noticeable that standout cuts like
"Maiden, Mother & Crone,"
"The Frost-Giant's Daughter,"
"Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians,"
the latter of which boasts a title that would make
2112
Rush
red with envy, never reach the nosebleed seats, where they're so obviously aiming and so many potential new fans are sitting. That said, if this had been
the Sword
's debut, they'd be carrying the tattered flag of the second coming, as there are moments of sick bliss lurking around every key change, deconstructed bridge, and ride-heavy off-rhythm. Third time's a charm, right? ~ James Christopher Monger