The Sword -- Appreciation Thread

[Samsara]

In doing a search for a topic on this band, I saw a number of people that dug The Sword.

I just discovered them this weekend. I randomly clicked on something that led me to one of their songs (I forget which). I immediately went out and bought their new record, and ordered the older ones from Amazon. Also bought a ticket to a local headline show next month.

Amazing band. Reminds me of Sabbath meets Mastodon.

So where are my fellow fans of The Sword on here?

 

[adace]

Love this band! The new album rules! Age of Winters is my favorite one though.

[wolfking]

Always been meaning to check this band out, might pick up the new album this weekend. 

[Dark Castle]

From what I heard of the new album, Warped Riders is light years better.  Apocryphon just feels by the numbers for them.
Then again I've heard 3 songs from it so I'll probably spotify sometime soon.

[Gadough]

I saw them live at Riot Fest, and I hate to say it, but they were pretty boring. Which is a shame because I like their studio material. They just have no energy when they play live.

[The King in Crimson]

Love The Sword.  They have a great retro sound that is still unique, melodic and catchy.  They can also be pretty heavy and their riffs are usually pretty glorious.

Warp Riders is my favorite.  Nearly every song on that album is awesome.  Age of Winters and Gods of the Earth I like about the same.  They can be a bit samey, but they're much rawer and much heavier than Warp Riders.  I haven't listened to Apocryphon yet (I have it though) but I'm looking forward to it.

[Jaq]

These guys are pretty much doing that classic, 70s hard rock/metal thing-I can see why someone would say there's a sense of sameyness to their music-but they do it so fucking well that it's hard to argue with the results. They play this huge, riff driven music that just makes your head bang whether you want to or not. I can't call the new one a return to form since, honestly, I love everything hey done-I don't really see this huge difference between Warp Riders and the rest of their albums, they all sound like the Sword to me. Really good band.

[Jaffa]

I saw them live at Riot Fest, and I hate to say it, but they were pretty boring.

Very much so this.  I saw them open for Metallica a few years ago, and their live show just did not impress me enough to make me want to check them out more. 

I may check out an album to see if the studio material suits me better.  Is Warp Riders the place to start?

[Dark Castle]

Yes, Warp Riders is their most cohesive and strongest effort by far
EDIT: Listening to Apocryphon and I've got say it's really boring..   When I imagine them playing this I don't see them having any fun at all, it just feels extremely mediocre at best.

[Mindflux]

T-Minus one week until I see them here in Austin!

[Perpetual Change]

Bought "Age of Winters" a few weeks ago.

Awesome guitar riffage, but man, the combination of bad lyrics, non-melodies, and atonal vocals has made sure I haven't listened to "Age of Winters" more than a couple of times. I hope their newer stuff is better. Consider me pretty much turned off of this band.

[Samsara]

Man, looks like The Sword called it a day. or rather, J.D. sounds like he ended the band:

https://twitter.com/JDCronise/status/1583113480538034182?s=20&t=c-Hp0xJVpYzXeQrbtHzNwQ

"When I started the band back in 2004, I could've only hoped for the successes we've enjoyed, and I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to do it for a living for almost two decades. In that time
everything I ever wanted to say and do with THE SWORD creatively has been said and done, and so the time has come for me to move on to other endeavors.

"Thanks to everyone who's ever come to a show, bought our albums and merch, and supported us over the years. Thanks to everyone who's teched, tour managed, done sound, or sold merch for us. Thanks to all the bands who've taken us on tour and to all the bands we've taken on tour. Thanks to the promotors and venues who booked us and let us play. Thanks to the producers and recording engineers who worked on our albums and to the labels that released them. Thanks to Josh our booking agent and Mark our business manager, whom we are glad to count as friends. And most of all thanks to my bandmates, Kyle, Bryan, Jimmy, and Trivett, for having faith in me and allowing me to realize my vision. You dudes are true legends.

"It's been a helluva journey. Now it's time for the next chapter..."

Sucks. I only got a chance to see them live once, which you can see from my first post on them 10 years ago, but they were really entertaining. They sort of lost me a bit with their album High Country, and I know I wasn't the only one, it ended up spiraling them downward. I saw they were playing with Primus this summer, but they weren't playing my local show, so I just figured I'd see them at some point in the future. Guess not.

Killer band. Gonna go spin up Warp Riders. 

[ProfessorPeart]

I discovered them on the Primus tour. The riffs were insane. I love Age Of Winters. Gods Of The Earth is not quite as good, but has The Black River which is probably their most rifftastic song. I tend to agree with everyone that Warp Riders is their best album from start to finish.

I did not like the direction they went from High Country on.

[Samsara]

PP - they torpedoed their career with High Country, and everyone in the band except for the singer J.D. knew it. That was the direction HE wanted. Really a shame. They could never really recover.

[ProfessorPeart]

Yep. Even though I am a very new fan, I did my research and I only bought the first 4 albums. Then I picked up the Chronology box to finish up my stuff for them.

[Samsara]

Yep. Even though I am a very new fan, I did my research and I only bought the first 4 albums. Then I picked up the Chronology box to finish up my stuff for them.

Smart move. Great band. At least we'll always have the tunes.