[rating=4.00]
I’ve been a fan of The Sword for a decade now, following the musical trail of destruction left in the wake of these Austin metalheads through epic record after epic record of pure rock fury. To say they’ve been a favorite band of mine would be a bit of an overstatement, but they’ve constantly tickled all of my fancies in all the right ways. Their last record, 2012’s Apocryphon, saw The Sword reach new heights, culminating the sound they’ve been perfecting into a sort of thesis statement—it was the apotheosis of Swordness, distilling their oeuvre perfectly into a defining effort that was the result of their long trek from the hot Texas sun into the larger metal world.
The announcement of their fifth album, High Country, has been present in my mind for months now as I wondered what places The Sword would be carrying me towards with this outing. Perhaps it was a case of anticipation casting its shadow over appreciation, but the only things I felt listening to High Country were equal parts boredom and disappointment.
The red-flags started rising moments into “Unicorn Farm,” the fifty second intro to High Country which immediately signals a far departure from The Sword’s usual doom metal aesthete with its warbling keyboards played over a beat that can best be described as “funky.” While there’s nothing wrong with being funky in and of itself, for a band like The Sword, it comes across as trying too hard. Still, it’s just an intro track, right? That doesn’t need to mean anything. Sometimes intro tracks aren’t good, and that’s okay.
“Unicorn Farm” fades into “Empty Temples” and immediately it’s clear that the band is going for a different sound than the one their fans are used to. The Sword have always had a bit of a classic rock vibe in their channeling of Black Sabbath. Still, that’s more about the trappings of their genre than anything else. All doom is derived from Sabbath, so hearing the influence isn’t a bad thing. “Empty Temples” however feels less Sabbath inspired and more Sabbath derivative. More precisely, it feels like a shitty cover band doing a set of shitty Sabbath—the pointless and meandering Sabbath immediately prior to Ozzy being fired—while wearing Kiss makeup after a night of listening to Thin Lizzy.
Sadly, this is a bit of a tone-setter for the record. High Country is a pastiche of classic rock tropes searching desperately for a means of survival in a world that has moved on. Gone is the sense of epicness that propelled The Sword on earlier records, a fact best illustrated by the almost impressively terrible “Seriously Mysterious,” a track that redefines new lows for The Sword. Driven by a simplistic keyboard riff, the song is, at best, a series of fits and starts that never quite finds its footing and serves as a particularly pointed metaphor for the entire album.
There will probably be fans willing to follow The Sword down this musical rabbit hole they’ve decided to explore, and I’m sure this record will find its niche among certain subsets of listeners. But The Sword has always been a band who’s at their best when they’re bringing the thunder, assaulting the ears with a storm that brewed at the gates of Valhalla. High Country is more a drizzly day in Hoboken, eliciting sounds that neither suggest nor inspire any particular glory aside from finishing your fifth can of Miller High Life beneath the bilious glow of the neon signs adorning the walls of a dank bar.
5 Responses
I, too, am a long time fan, and while this record doesn’t “bring the thunder” and present most of the things I listen to The Sword for, I think your review is a little bit unfair. It’s a REALLY good record.
You nail it when you point out that the “epicness” isn’t there, and they’re following influences that they haven’t explored before, but you’re wrong in thinking it “derivative”, trite, or “tropey”.
The songwriting and Sword sound are there, it’s just sonically more complex and there’s more depth than in previous records. This directional shift was alluded to in the Apocryphon bonus tracks which hinted that The Sword isn’t a one trick pony.
Yes, they are great when they are bludgeoning your face with thunder, but sliding from Slayer trills to QOTSA melodies and sonic travellings is not a bad thing.
I bet that after a few bowls and as many listens, you’ll dig this groovy disc FOR not bringing the same ol, same ol.
I think that your review is spot on.
The defenders of this album love to say “oh it’s sooo different! It’s a new direction!” and ask, ” Do you want them to keep making the same record over and over again ?”
Well… this record is NOT different it’s just really bad.
The lyrics are entirely derived from every tree hugging bumper sticker ever.
The “music” if you can call it that has been lifted straight from Thin Lizzy B-sides and some YouTuber’s Ableton meets Casio keyboard beats files.
EVERYWHERE the guitars could get cool they instead get neutered, declawed, and just lame.
The “direction” this album goes HAS NOTHING to do with the band “The Sword.”
Whoever the hell told these guys that this album was a good idea has no business dealing with a rock band.
This should have been a completely re-branded and seperate record.
“The Sword” is a brand. It was anyway . You should not flirt with destroying your brand with a poorly executed business maneuver like High Country.
Be creative, and be inventive, but DO NOT kill your career while testing the waters of musical possibility.
Warp Riders was and is an excellent example of mixing things up all while maintaining “The Sword” brand of rock music integrity.
Honestly I don’t buy The Sword records or go to their shows in the hopes that they will play some easy listening folk songs. Crazy huh?!
As a working class fan who spends money on music and shows this album feels like a major fuck you.
I am beyond pissed that I pre-ordered this meandering piece of garbage.
It’s NOT pandering to your fans to TRY putting out something that you think they MIGHT still be able to enjoy based upon earlier releases .
I know that in my career if I were to suddenly just one day stop doing what I went to school for I wouldn’t have a job.
The Sword has made a career out of making a certain type of music. Changing that up on a whim and still calling themselves by the same name may mean they soon no longer have a band.
To all of the people who I read making comments in favor of this album I really hope that you mean them.
I hope that you buy tickets to shows and the merch that the band sells. I will absolutely NOT support this band any further until somebody comes out and says publicly “whoops our bad on this”.
Seriously what the hell were they thinking on this one?
I happen to be one of the “fans willing to follow The Sword down this musical rabbit hole” and though I totally agree with many of the comments made in this review, I feel that alot of the album was disregarded in the reviewers immediate disappointment. Sure, when a band changes direction as hard as The Sword has with High Country, they are bound to receive alot of flak such as this. But while there are some bombs on this record (Seriously Mysterious, and Tears Like Diamonds come to mind), one cannot ignore the gems that came out of it, The Dreamthieves, Mist and Shadow, Buzzards, and Suffer No Fools are proof that these guys still know what theyre doing. I really do enjoy this record, J.D.s vocals have never truly matched up with their colossal riffs, and their decision to place more emphasis on vocals could have been a mistake. I do wish I got more vocals like he did in the background of that one verse in Mist and Shadow, but as with most of their material, I have learned to forgive the vocal shortcomings in lieu of their incredible songwriting capabilities.
This is a good album, you may hit the skip button or just choose not to sync a few songs, but I still really appreciate the effort these Austin boys put into making a true stoner southern/classic rock album. I personally have been listening to it in its entirety every day since receiving my pre-order. I must admit, I was convinced I was not going to like this record after hearing the title track when they started streaming it, but my god have I learned to never doubt in the power of The Sword. If you’re reading this review while trying to decide if this is a record to buy, I hope you can take it with a grain of salt. You may not like this record, and thats okay, but if you enjoy The Sword, and also enjoy some good old rock and roll, then I do urge you to check this thing out.
I’ve been a fan since the first album, and I love this one. I think this review is way off base. Seriously Mysterious is a good song…especially after the setup at the end of the previous track.
Spot on article! I can totally appreciate a new musical direction, but this type of music is not why I got into The Sword’s music in the first place….believe me, I have tried hard to like this album, but it ends up making me yawn. To me the band has increasingly been abandoning their original sound with each release. For those that find this album listenable, good for you! Enjoy it! I cannot enjoy it. I’ll still listen to their first two releases, but now the band Conan fills the void The Sword has left for me. Obviously the heart of The Sword left with Wingo.