THE SWORD TO BEGIN RECORDING NEW ALBUM THIS FALL

Great news! The Sword are to begin recording their third album this fall! It will be a science fiction concept album. For those not familiar with The Sword, they are an extremely talented band from Austin, Texas that has huge potential to become THE next big thing in the metal scene. Their sound is like a cross between the best 1980's thrash and speed metal bands such as early Metallica, and the heavy, 1970's, frayed nerve-endings doom of Black Sabbath and Pentagram. The Sword's popularity has already grown tremendously, with their songs showing up on the Guitar Hero game. Can't wait for this one to be released. In the meantime, here's "How Heavy This Axe", from their second album "Gods of the Earth". Enjoy.

THE SWORD: "Age of Winters" and "Gods Of the Earth"

The Sword. Borrowing a few ideas from doom-maestro's Black Sabbath and Pentagram and mixing them up with speed metal a la early Mettalica and Slayer, these guys blew me away about a year ago when I picked up "Gods of the Earth"(2008). Let me tell you, that is one hell of a heavy disc. It's dizzying at times with non-stop pummeling guitar work, crushing riffs, slightly detached Ozzy-esque vocals, bizarre high fantasy lyrics, and non stop head-banging grooves throughout. It's hard to pigeon-hole this band...they are masters of the heaviest of both '70's and '80's metal at the same time. If there is such a thing as wearing out a CD I have come close to it with this one.

The Sword made it big I believe when they got a song from their first album, "Age of Winters"(2006), on Guitar Hero 2. The song was "Freya". While not as great as "Gods of the Earth", "Age of Winters" is still a pretty solid album. It's not quite as fast paced, and the vocals sound repetitive after a while.

It scares me that "Gods of the Earth", being only their second release, is so good. Either their next album will be a gift from god, or they will crash and burn. If and when they come out with a third album, I hope it will blow me away and take me back to the metal church where I belong....until then, we just have to watch these videos....

"How Heavy This Axe", "Maiden, Mother, and Crone", and "Freya".