Critical Voices: The Sword, Warp Riders

Since their 2003 debut, Age of Winters, The Sword has gained a reputation as the loudest band in Austin, Texas, and with its new sci-fi concept album Warp Riders the band reminds its fans why it earned that reputation.

Most people who know of The Sword know that they toured in support of Metallica, and that the Guitar Hero video game series includes songs from their catalogue. They received pothead publication High Times’ prestigious Doobie Award for Best Metal Artist in 2009 which is fitting, given that the most common metal subgenre used to describe The Sword is “stoner metal.”

In addition to their weed-related genre classification, The Sword’s musical style has been described as “retro metal” and “heritage metal,” with a few elements of “sludge metal” added for good measure. Some more fundamentalist metal fans may jeeringly label them “hipster metal” due to their sound’s vintage elements and the band’s commercial success among non-metal fans. But despite the mess of subgenre titles they claim, the rolling chords and Ozzy-like vocals mainly point to Black Sabbath as a primary influence.

Warp Riders follows the two-part story of a hunter named Ereth, who was banished from his home planet of Archeron, a celestial body that has just stopped spinning, leaving one side to burn under multiple suns while the other freezes. Ereth meets the Chronomancer, who enlists him in a quest to restore the planet’s balance. It’s the stuff of Tolkien—certainly an album to geek-out over if you’ll let yourself.

Melody abounds on plenty of tracks, such as “Lawless Lands” and “Night City.” The tracks are heavily riff-based, with a pace that’s pure hard-rock. The titular track, though, draws on Southern rock.  As for the metal genre’s signiture solos, they’re impressive, but not so long or frequent that they become boring.

Despite the blazing guitars throughout the riff-heavy album, The Sword’s greatest weakness remains its vocals. The band’s vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist J.D. Cronise’s voice has improved over the past two albums, but it still often lacks the energy necessary to carry its songs. On a science-fiction concept album, he really should have upped the drama.

While a solid release, this is not a future classic by any means. Anyone who enjoys some fun guitar solos should hear this, but for a concept album that had two parts designated for different chapters of the story, its storytelling is surprisingly weak. Despite The Sword’s grand ambition, Warp Riders is decidedly less than epic.

Voice’s Choices:   “Lawless Lands,” “Warp Riders”

—Nico Dodd