The Sword
Warp Riders
Kemado Records
The third and latest album, Warp Riders, by the Austin, Texas-based metal band, The Sword have released what may be the most ambitious album to date, as the album is their first concept album – yes, I said concept album – inspired by Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime, the old legends of the lost city of Atlantis, Heavy Metal Magazine, the films of René Laloux, the childhood dreams of primary songwriter and creative force, J.D. Cronise, The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda and other things. With the Sword being considered a part of metal’s retro movement and return to some level of popularity, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to even their most diehard fans that a concept album would be in the works at some point. After all, the concept album is in many ways the primary cliché of 70’s rock, metal and prog rock. Just off the top of my head we have Rush’s 2112, Moving Pictures, Caress of Steel and just about everything else they’ve ever done; Queensrÿche’s Operation: Mindcrime, King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King, everything Peter Gabriel-era Genesis ever recorded and there’s obviously more. Much like those past albums, Warp Riders is heavily influenced by science fiction and fantasy as it tells a rather dense narrative that has the story’s hero encountering strange warriors, a mysterious orb, a being beyond time and space who enlists the main character on a quest, witches, androids and last but not least, a band of space pirates who fly across the universe on a vessel known as The Sword.
Yes, I’m sure after reading that description you’d probably say to yourselves, “My God, that’s cheesy!” And admittedly, I’d have to agree with you. Hell, some of the lyrics are laughably silly. J.D. Cronise doesn’t have the most memorable metal voice – he doesn’t have the whiskey and cigarette coated growl of the beloved Lemmy Kilmister – but it works well for the material at hand. But most importantly, the album is full of huge, crunching, arena filling power chords reminiscent of early Metallica (think of Ride the Lighting, Kill ‘Em All, and . . . And Justice for All) and Motorhead. “Tres Brujas” “Arrows in the Dark,” and “The Chromomancer I: Hubris” are among my favorite songs because they kick major ass and take names. “Lawless Lands” has a sleazy, bluesy, late night stomp and shuffle that’s perfect for several of my favorite Lower East Side bars. And although the album shreds and thrashes, the album does reveal some subtlety through repeated listens – you can hear Cronise and Shutt’s guitars bob, weave, twist and turn around each other in an excitingly complicated duel. Sadly though, Warp Riders isn’t terribly original as any of the ideas on the album sound as though you would have heard them before back in the 70s and 80s. At the end of the day, it’s merely a good effort, that kicks some ass and may have some folks getting into someone like Queensrÿche or King Crimson or even going back to listen to Kill ‘Em All for the first time in years.
Release Date: August 24, 2010
Track Listing
1. Acheron/Unearthing the Orb
2. Tres Brujas
3. Arrows in the Dark
4. The Chromomancer I: Hubris
5. Lawless Lands
6. Astraea’s Dream
7. The Warp Riders
8. Night City
9. The Chromoancer II: Nemesis
10. (The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire
