Track Listing

1. The Sundering
2. How Heavy This Axe
3. Lords
4. Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians
5. To Take the Black
6. Maiden, Mother & Crone
7. Under the Boughs
8. The Black River
9. The White Sea

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54083 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-31
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Atop the tallest of earth's peaks dwell the gods of earth, and suffer no man to tell that he hath looked upon them." - H.P. Lovecraft, "The Other Gods"

With its soon-to-be unleashed sophomore album, Gods of the Earth freshly laid to tape, THE SWORD prepares to build upon the foundation it laid with its critically acclaimed debut Age of Winters and continues to lead modern day metal's forward charge.

Conceived in Austin, TX, THE SWORD took the form of a cohesive quartet in early 2004 when guitarist / singer J.D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie, and drummer Trivett Wingo joined forces. THE SWORD's live shows quickly became the hottest ticket in Austin, as their punishing, yet melodious compositions, mythical imagery and conscious effort to slowly immobilize audiences left music fans astonished while word about the band continued to flourish and grow. In the fall of 2005, THE SWORD found a home at Kemado Records, and their critically acclaimed debut Age of Winters was released in February 2006.

From the moment Gods of the Earth's lead track "The Sundering" explodes, it is immediately apparent that THE SWORD has upped the ante on a sound all its own. More ambitious, more accomplished and simply bigger, Gods of the Earth's huge, mountaintop-friendly hooks, thunderous drumming and oceanic bass lines cut through the air like a scythe taking down all in the band's path. The ominous vocals of Cronise weave fantastical tales rife with myth and mythology. Waves of powerful riffs and low-end thunder dominate songs such as the immediate "Maiden, Mother & Crone", "Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians", "Under the Boughs" and the paralyzing "The Black River". Gods of the Earth instantly conveys what words can only try to describe: THE SWORD is not to be taken lightly.

Customer Reviews

Yaaaaaaargh!
Loud and proud, riffing at the top edge of the scale (way beyond 11), lyrical nonsense (surely tongues are firmly in cheek), thunderous, mighty, skull numbing bass and drums and I've never heard cymbals get such a beating since Live at Leeds....

From the Black Sabbath end of the metal spectrum, this album just pounds you into submission

What's not to like?

Far from the sheltering glens
As if their name and albums weren't enough to tip you off, the Sword like to do two things: make references to myths and fantasy, and blast your ears off with eruptions of fiery metal.

And in their second album "Gods of the Earth," this Austin band proceeds to do both -- but with greater intensity than in their debut. Not only do they have Black-Sabbath-style muscle and power that sweeps you off like a tidal wave, but also a wild flexibility that only promises to become more hypnotic in the future.

The first song eases you into the music with a nimble, quiet guitar melody... right before that swell of thunderous bass explodes onto the scene, and it turns into a full-fledged metal anthem. But from the way they play it, you can tell that this is just the buildup.

It's followed by the epic buildup and rapid ascent of "How Heavy This Axe," a blazing war anthem ("So many men have fallen/So many more must die/Cut down like wheat beneath the scythe!"), and "Lords'" tight knifelike riffs twined with heavy grimy clouds of bass. And, of course, lyrics that sound like they were written for some enormous high-fantasy novel ("The dukes of the marches have ordered their archers/To shoot all outlanders on sight").

So you have a pretty good idea of what the remaining songs are going to be, and the Sword rushes on through them like a brush fire. A rollicking hard-rocker that simultaneously sounds like a stampede and a car revving, a meditative folk-metal anthem, blazing yowlfests, tribal metal, eruptions of accelerating bass and wild upward-spiraling riffs.

By the time you get to "The White Sea," you'll probably feel kind of dizzy. Fortunately the album finally slows to a stately dark cloud of grimy bass, with one outburst of wailing riffs near the end.

When you get down to it, all the songs on here sound like the soundtrack to some heavy-metal fantasy movie, with a heavy dose of Norse mythology -- lots of bloody battles, mythical goddesses, destroyed ruins, wizards, damsels, legends, creepy forests, and fantastical/mythic stuff like that. And they'll happily blow your ears off too.

"Gods of the Earth" is just as wild, heavy and rock-hard as the Sword's debut album, but they rev up the tempo with this one -- just listen to the speed of "Under the Boughs." We get raw, rough, intertwined basslines race along at sixty MPH, pausing occasionally for the sharp-edged electric riffs, elaborate acoustic bits, and some solid drumming. But the powerful bass playing is what really pushes this epic, fast-moving music along.

JD Cronise's voice gets a bit buried in the mix, but he yowls nicely when you can hear him. The lyrics are probably the weakest point. They're colourful and evocative ("They come with teeth and tusks and talons/They come with horns and hooves and claws/A wailing cry is heard deep within the forest...") but their lyrics get very stilted at times ("Our legends tell of weapons/Wielded by kings of old/Crafted by evil wizards/Unholy to behold").

In fact, they're at their strongest when they don't try too hard, such as in the relatively simple "Maiden, Mother and Crone": "Walk not down that road/I can not tell you where it goes/Ask me no more questions/Some things you weren't meant to know."

"Gods of the Earth" suffers from some awkward lyrics, but their muscular, blazing, D&D-geeky brand of metal is almost powerful enough to drown that out. Definitely worth hearing.

Metal is coming back in force!
The Sword are a brilliant band and it looks like they will soon be recieving the attention they deserve after their tour with Metallica earlier this year.
This album is very reminiscent of Black Sabbath from Master of Reality onwards, the guitar riffs are simply huge and covered in fuzz whilst Cronise wails away like Ozzy. However, it would be unfair to simply brand them a Sabbath tribute as they have a very modern approach and are slightly more technical. The lyrics may be fantasy based but they carried off a lot better than say, Dragonforce as they actually make sense and hold a larger vocabulary.
My only issue with the album is the mixing does not seem to be quite up to scratch, the heavier moments are slightly blurred and undistintive with the vocals heavily buried in the mix. Also, there are a few guitar solos but a band this epic really needs more, perhaps this will be addressed on future albums as this is only their second.
In short if you are a fan of Black Sabbath or would just like to see what happened when stoner metal met power metal you should buy this album.
Oh, and don't make the same mistake I did, you can buy this bundled with "age of winters" for the same price...