Kemodo (label)
23 August 2010 (released)
14 August 2010
I have been a massive fan of The Sword since I first heard ‘Gods Of The Earth’- their monumental riffs and ‘sword & sorcery’ themes seemed to really hit a spot and I have never really understood why they aren’t a massive international draw but hopefully ‘Warp Riders’ will change all that.
They have moved into sci-fi territory but there isn’t any change to the power and awesome thunder of their riffs as they tell a story about Ereth, an archer banished from his planet Acheron which is scorched on one side by three suns (‘Tres Brujas’) and on the other side is in perpetual darkness. The Sword call it a concept album and one time I would have run a million miles from such a thing but since Queensryche’s ‘Operation Mindcrime’ I guess it is ok. The critical thing is to ask whether the songs stand in their own right or whether they can only be seen as part of a whole and thankfully the songs here are all good enough to be played individually.
As the album opens with ‘Acheron/Unearthing The Orb’ and the guitars of J D Cronise and Kyle Shutt spit fire while Trivett Wingo’s drums explode like a melee all on their own, the impression is of a band who are totally in the groove and creating their own. Bryan Ritchie’s bass anchors the whole thing and keeps them grounded and the teamwork of thye whole band is completely convincing.
The brutal power continues into ‘Tres Brujas’ (Three Witches) and the power is tempered a little by JD’s vocals (much improved over Gods....) and the story begins to develop.
‘Arrows In The Dark’ features pounding drums but a melodic opening before the guitars pour it on describing Ereth’s banishment to the dark side and then we move into ‘the Chronomancer I:Hubris’ with the guitars duelling in classic manner.
The songs do tell the story well and every number takes the story one step further and the imagery and wordplay are things that Cronise is justifiably proud of.
It seems like every year throws up one album that is timeless and will be remembered in its own right down the years, from ‘Black Sabbath’ through albums like ‘Master of Puppets, or ‘Back In Black’ or even ‘Number Of The Beast’ they are albums that define the band that created them and ‘Warp Riders’ may just be THE one for 2010 – time will tell.
