The
Sword, you say? Headbangers over thirty will scratch their balding
heads and wonder if the Canadian thrash metal dudes from the 80’s are
back. You know, the “Metallized” motherfuckers. And while
that would be pretty awesome, this shiny new blade-of-steel was actually
forged in Austin, Texas, by a gang of young braves steeped in the post
Kyuss stoner-doom tradition. Amazing that shit is tradition already, but
there you go. “Age of Winters” is their debut album, which
is rather astonishing, because it’s just as accomplished as any of the
latest albums from veteran dope-rockers like Nebula or Fu Manchu . Of
course, we are talking about a genre that begins and ends with Ozzy-era
Black Sabbath, but it’s still an impressively liquid collection of
grandiose riff-mongering. The only problem here is that the fellas in the
band have done their homework so well that this almost sounds like a
sampler of other bands. The ferocious speed metal instrumental “March
of the Lor” is a deadringer for red-eyed warriors High on Fire,
the flowing green jungle of “Freya” could be on the next
Sheavy album, the perfectly absurd “The Horned Goddess” is
every song on the a-side of Sabotage wrapped up in one hoary, sand-swept
package, and so on. Sword roll from one roiling sea of powerdoom to the
next with such ease and breeze that you can almost overlook their dearth
of new ideas completely, but if they want to build on the sudden and
overwhelming hype that this album has been generating, they mighta wanna
start looking for new sonic vistas to pilfer from for their follow-up.
Dio-era Sabbath, maybe. Or possibly the “Metallized” motherfuckers.
________________________________________________________
The
Sword, you say? Headbangers over thirty will scratch their balding
heads and wonder if the Canadian thrash metal dudes from the 80’s are
back. You know, the “Metallized” motherfuckers. And while
that would be pretty awesome, this shiny new blade-of-steel was actually
forged in Austin, Texas, by a gang of young braves steeped in the post
Kyuss stoner-doom tradition. Amazing that shit is tradition already, but
there you go. “Age of Winters” is their debut album, which
is rather astonishing, because it’s just as accomplished as any of the
latest albums from veteran dope-rockers like Nebula or Fu Manchu . Of
course, we are talking about a genre that begins and ends with Ozzy-era
Black Sabbath, but it’s still an impressively liquid collection of
grandiose riff-mongering. The only problem here is that the fellas in the
band have done their homework so well that this almost sounds like a
sampler of other bands. The ferocious speed metal instrumental “March
of the Lor” is a deadringer for red-eyed warriors High on Fire,
the flowing green jungle of “Freya” could be on the next
Sheavy album, the perfectly absurd “The Horned Goddess” is
every song on the a-side of Sabotage wrapped up in one hoary, sand-swept
package, and so on. Sword roll from one roiling sea of powerdoom to the
next with such ease and breeze that you can almost overlook their dearth
of new ideas completely, but if they want to build on the sudden and
overwhelming hype that this album has been generating, they mighta wanna
start looking for new sonic vistas to pilfer from for their follow-up.
Dio-era Sabbath, maybe. Or possibly the “Metallized” motherfuckers.