★★★★★
Somehow blending fantasy metal with the nostalgia of '70s stoner rock, The Sword have made surprisingly well-crafted hard rock that is a Dungeons & Dragons wet dream, yet is still accessible to the rest of the masses.Their fifth album, Apocryphon, is chock full of head-banging riffs and killer guitar solos. Lead singer and main songwriter John D...
- www.ink19.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
With each successive release, the Sword have pulled their music in two seemingly opposing directions: they've become more accessible, but they've also gotten weirder. There's nothing on Apocryphon, the group's fourth full-length, as heavy as what the band were pumping out in the days of Age of Winters, and they've certainly got a knack for melody that they didn't in those days, but they're more willing to take their music places that rock radio most likely won't be willing to go...
- www.punknews.org
2013-01-31
★★★★★
The SwordApocryphon (Razor & Tie)Eagle ClawTiming of the Void (ECH) "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," claimed Ralph Waldo Emerson, but in heavy metal, hobgoblins constitute a good thing. Apocryphon rolls out disc No. 4 in Austin metal torchbearer the Sword's winning streak, and it's precisely what we've come to expect from the unrepentant headbangers...
- www.austinchronicle.com
2012-12-14
★★★★★
Release Date: October 22, 2012 Following up the conceptual ideals of Warp Riders, The Sword has returned to non-story based writings on their newest LP Apocryphon - at least sort of. Sure, there's not an overarching story to be had, but the idea of the title comes from some forbidden texts. In any case, the band's fourth LP sounds like a bit of a change of pace for the band texturally compared to the often confident and energetic tunes they've churned out before...
- absolutepunk.net
2012-11-27
★★★★★
For a time there, The Sword seemed poised to conquer the universe. They nabbed a Guitar Hero spot, toured with the planet's biggest metal band, Metallica, and appeared to be blazing a meteoric trajectory that only a vengeful god could stop. Then 2010's Warp Riders came and went: a somewhat unsatisfying, sci-fi-indebted epic that adopted a rather ill-fitting hard rock aesthetic.
Now, with a new label behind them and a new drummer providing the whumps, it seems The Sword are back on track...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2012-11-20
★★★★★
Goto commentsLeave a commentShare Easy to Swallow Four-piece Austin, Texas retro-doom metal quartet, The Sword, has a sound that is so nostalgic that it is nearly pastiche. Fortunately, the music on their latest, Apocryphon, is fun and interesting enough that you won't care if it was released in 1972 or in 2012...
- www.mxdwn.com
2012-10-29
★★★★★
Sound: This is one of the heaviest power metal albums ever to be released in the '80s. From the beginning of the album to the end, every single song has nothing but powerful head banging riffs. All 10 tracks are equally heavy and get straight to the point. I first listened to this band when my friend had a tape of it, none of us knew what it was but the title Metalized seemed cool to us. The first track F.T.W. blew me away and I couldn't believe I've never heard of this band before...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-09-20
★★★★★
Sound: The Sword sound is fairly simple, metallic power chords that sound as if they are going to implode, matching bass riffs, and drums that keep the whole groove together. The vocals are a haunting drone weaving tales of bloody battles, goddesses, wolves, pretty much anything fantasy/medievel related...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-09-20
★★★★★
Sound: The Sword makes you raise your devil horns once again with their new album, Gods Of The Earth. Following a successful first album, The Sword has tried to branch out a little bit with their new stuff. They have added a little bit of an early Bay Area flavor to the riffs, along with heavier drums and more speed. This is a unexpected surprise that accompanies the band's brand of Texan Sabbath-era stoner metal...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-09-20