The Sword Album: “Sword”

The first and most appropriate description of this album is that it is "fast." Every song on this album is as fast or faster than anything on Age of Winters. It starts off strong with the intro track but as soon as the second song starts it's obvious that the doom influence is out. Instead, they are leaning much closer to a High on Fire metal type of sound. The singing style has completely changed to match the new, faster style of playing. Now instead of slow-building power found in most songs, it is more of a straight ahead rock sound. The vocals now have a similar quality to Clutch. This album is completely different from what came before.

There are a few stand out songs: namely the two minute intro called "The Sundering" along with "Maiden, Mother & the Crone" and "The Black River" which both appear towards the end of the album. The second through sixth track are all no match for The Sword's previous effort.

The heavy metal hardcore hates it when a band comes from outside the scene to do metal.

They hate it double when that band gets a deal with a large label.

They hate it triple when the band does metal better than the bands that grew from inside the scene.

The heavy metal hardcore hates The Sword.

They listen with their prejudices, not their ears. This band has grown a pair since their last album. They now have their own very distinctive sound, heavier, rawer and faster than the Sabbathian debut. Indeed, there is improvement on every level. Every instrument sounds better; and while the singer will never be great, he has found himself now and fronts the band with aplomb. When you have riffs like this, the singer doesn't need to carry the band. He just needs to carry his own weight. He does it just fine.

It sometime happens that "borderline" metal bands, bands from outside the scene, make the best metal, because they bring a new perspective. The Sword is the best American doom metal band since Danzig, and that's saying something.

If you don't like them for some kind of philosophical reason or because they're too popular, that's your loss. This sounds like true metal to me.

Great second release, a bit different from the first album but i like it nonetheless. My favorite song is "To Take The Black." You will especially like this album if you are a fan of George RR Martins books. I just cant get enough of this great bone crunching sound.

I read the negative reviews and have to say that I don't think we have the same cd. This is a great rock and roll album. If you happen to love stoner rock/metal, you certainly aren't going to hear anything new. BUT, you aren't going to hear anything really new or different in the whole genre. This music is for people who like this kind of music. Don't allow a music snob to make the call for you, hear them yourself.

The Swords last album, "Age Of Winters" was great! It was a nice unpretentious album that brought metal back down to earth with its Sabbath inspired, retro doom sound. It was also super heavy and filled to the brim with awesome riffs!

"Gods Of The Earth" hits much the same way, only with a few key differences. The boys from Sword have gotten a little more skilled since "Age Of Winters" and it shows in the newfound complexity, leadwork, and speed of the songs. Thats both good and just a little bad.

On the good side, the riffs continue to be phenominal, and make for awesome slabs of heaviness. Even better, the new found technical skill never outshines the music itself, they're not showing off, just applying their newfound speed and tightness to the music, making the songs more complicated and little closer to thrash-metal.

On the bad side, the new, thrashier direction just emphasizes just how weak the singer is. The vocals were never great on "Age Of Winters," but the thin zombie-like vocals worked well enough on AoW because the music was a little more Sabbath than Metallica, and lord knows Ozzy never had that great of a voice.

With the new, tighter, more agressive sound, however, a tighter more agressive singer would really bring those songs to the hieghts they deserve.

But thats a minor complaint. The bottom line is this:

You probably liked the Swords debut because it brought the HEAVY and it brought the RIFFS!!!

"Gods of the Earth" does the same. So enjoy! I know I am.