Review: 'Age of Winters' by The Sword
Didn’t know what to expect from The Sword
, but they name-checked …And You Will Know Us… in their liner notes, so that was good enough for me. Turns out the album is a corker, and sound-wise nothing like …AYWKUBTTOD. It’s tempting to call ‘Age of Winters’ a doom album – riffs and vocals are clearly from the Sabbath stable. But they’ve taken the basic template in a new direction to create simply an excellent metal album, in the same vein as Grand Magus or High on Fire’s recent waxings. The Sword are pretty damn heavy though – less so than say Electric Wizard, but more so than Goatsnake. What sets them apart is their determination to rock harder than most; almost every track requires the listener to assume a metal posture and wear their best metal face. In this respect they’re similar to the likes of Orange Goblin – providers of good time, hard-rocking heavy metal. I’m a convert anyway. Best track: Lament for the Aurochs.
8.5/10
Posted by monoman at 02:10 PM on June 08, 2006
