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Review: The Sword, Thekla
Back in their days as Metallica’s favoured if mostly inaudible opening act, Texan quartet The Sword traded in Sabbathy stoner/doom metal. Lately, our delightful friends the HATERZ have been giving them a hard time for failing to make the same album over and over again. Having explored the concept format with Warp Riders and got all metaphysical on our asses with Apocryphon – courtesy of fun-sized chief songwriter John D. Cronise, who describes himself as an “ancient astronaut theorist” and “anachronous rock musician” – they’ve taken a turn into melodic hard rock with High Country. So how’s all this going to go down with the punters aboard a packed Thekla?
Coming on, somewhat mystifyingly, to Glen Frey’s oh-so-’80s The Heat is On, segueing abruptly into ultra-brief High Country psychedelic funk opener Unicorn Farm, it’s clear that The Sword mean to serve up most of the new album. In its mellower moments, their twin guitar duelling sounds like Foghat channelling Wishbone Ash in an outtake from the Dazed and Confused soundtrack (this is in no way a criticism). Giant riffs have not been left behind, however, as The Dreamthieves demonstrates most satisfyingly, which also ensures there’s no abrupt disconnect between old and new material.
There’s also no soloing, no fannying about, and precious little communication with the audience as they pack as many songs as possible into their set. Crowd faves such as Freya, Seven Sisters and Maiden, Mother & Crone are delivered with sufficient crushing heaviosity to silence naysayers – but if any are present, they’re keeping awfully quiet about it. Hairy Kyle Shutt shoulders most of the guitar hero posturing duties, while fabulously named drummer Santiago Vela III gives it plenty of cowbell (cue: inevitable cries of “More cowbell!“). As ever, the vocals remain the weak point, with Cronise’s thin voice occasionally getting lost in the mix. But they earn extra Brownie points for being quite possibly the first American band ever to play the Thekla without making some lame quip about being on a boat.
is needed now More than ever
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