I hate trying to write a review from a stream, but this is one of those times that I have no other choice as that’s all I was provided. The Sword‘s third album, Warp Riders comes out on August 14th on Kemado records, but I have had the pleasure of sampling or rather streaming the album for review ahead of time.

Early into recording, the band said that this time around was going to be very different and it had a lot of fans worried. What was exactly “Different”? Was it going to go all totally mainstream rock with a more radio friendly sound? Were they going to experiment with other instruments or something? Whenever you tell fans that your next album will be different every thought that goes through their mind is a worried on. We don’t like bands to try to fix something that’s not broken. As a Sword fan, I assure you, there is nothing to worry about.

From Age Of Winters to Gods Of The Earth we saw improvements in production a bit but overall it was just another great ‘Sword record. Nothing overdone or too fancy. With the first single that was released first via iTunes and then made available for free download was Tres Brujas, which translates to Three Witches. The Sword writing songs about witches? No Way! So there is no big change in the basic theme of the band. Still going for a medieval and mythical folklore theme to their songs. Well, most of them anyway.

The albums kicks off with a  3 minute, 43 second instrumental called ‘Acheron/Unerthing The  Orb’ which does have the fast paced thrash sound we’re used to. A ripping solo follows and chugging signature ‘Sword riffs even things out. A nice start.  The extremely catchy ‘Tres Brujas‘ is followed up by “Arrows In The Dark”, with wind howling and an eerie feeling lead before wrapping your head around more heavy riffs and cool fills. A song basically about being on watch in the night with your weapon at hand. A story in it’s own. Three songs in to it and no complaints yet.

The fourth song, The Chronomancer I: Hubris is a 7 minute, 35 second second that lyrics don’t kick in until just under two minutes. At first I thought it was an instrumental and was starting to get bored with it before the singing kicked in. Still no complaints as this song will keep you moving. The Lawless Land follows up the first Chronomancer song. Yes there are two parts. Anyway, Lawless land starts off all psychedelic with a  Zeppelin-esque (The Ocean) vibrato guitar effect but then kicks in to 2 gear with a blues/rock sounding tune that has a nice mid-tempo gallop to it. I really like the bass work of Brian Richie in this song, even though it’s nothing epic or complicated, it just rides nice. Half way through the album and still no complaints.

Astraea’s Dream delves a little deeper in to the, perhaps, experimental phase of this album by kind of starting out a little slower and more 70′s sounding, but picks up the speed a little more once it kick in. Filled with some great solos, Atsraea’s Dream is a nice instrumental and seems to actually go by pretty fast. Almost too fast. The title track, Warp Riders fits the name well and as you can guess from the title and from the lyrics is about time travel. This is a bit out of the normal lyrical theme of the band but it’s a nice change to hear them talking about space and the universe and shit, instead of the typical stuff we have come to expect J.D. Cronise to sing about. Night City sounds very dated, but in a good way. Almost could be an early KISS song, but KISS would have found a way to ruin this song.

The last two songs on the album are The Chronomancer II: Nemesis and (The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire. Again, two minutes in to the next Chronomancer song and I wait for singing. Oh, wait, there it is at 2 minutes, 26 seconds. Awesome solos and thrash and groove filled riffs. Tears Of Fire closes out the album well. The nicely placed solos in this, with the rhythm kind of remind me a lot of Achilles Last Stand from Led Zeppelin’s Presence.

Overall if you were expecting The Sword to make a big change in their music, they have…but they haven’t. The ferocity is still there but the edge is taken off of most of it with a much more classic, 70′s sound. What I see the most change in is the overall sound, but still in a good way. The crushing, thrashy riffs of the last two albums make way for more classic rock/metal grooves and licks. A little more melody here and there and even more clarity in the vocals than the last two albums. Kyle Shutt’s and J.D. Cronise’ guitar work is as usual very good and the solos are more classic rock, Sabbath/Zeppelin sounding and don’t get too wanky, if you know what I mean. Trivett Wingo’s drumming is stellar as expected and very organic sounding as they normally are. I like hearing real drums, instead of triggers.

So yes, I really dig this album. The album art reminds everyone of the Atari 2600 days, which if everyone remembers, looked really cool and had you excited for an 8 bit game back in the 80′s. You’d get it home, pop it in to start playing, just to find out that the actual gameplay was nothing like the front cover. Fortunately The Sword make the inside of the album just as cool as the cover. It will look splendid on vinyl, which I’m sure they plan on releasing.

Bottom Line: The Sword churn out another classic metal album but with more classic rock feel and inspiration this time around. Still heavy as Dumbo’s balls and hard as Pinocchio’s pecker.

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