{"id":1346,"date":"2016-12-30T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T17:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/?p=1346"},"modified":"2016-12-27T10:21:22","modified_gmt":"2016-12-27T15:21:22","slug":"rewind-review-the-sword-age-of-winters-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.7thlevelmusic.com\/?p=1346","title":{"rendered":"Rewind Review: The Sword – Age of Winters (2006)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Age of Winters<\/em>, the debut album from The Sword <\/strong><\/a>(J.D. Cronise <\/strong>– guitar and vocals, Bryan Richie <\/strong>– bass, Kyle Shutt <\/strong>– guitar, Trivett Wingo <\/strong>– drums) is nothing short of a metal masterpiece. It was a bold statement in 2006 and is still just as powerful a decade later, putting many newer metal albums to shame.<\/p>\n

What makes it different? For one, the instrumentation. The Sword can shred like a Ninja Turtles villain and jam harder than Schmucker\u2019s equally well. Second, their lyrics are epic. \u201cBarael\u2019s Blade,\u201d for example, is a song about a magic sword that starts with the lyric \u201cForged by the Crow-Mage from shards of darkness.\u201d You can\u2019t get much more metal than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreya,\u201d about the queen of the Valkyries, hits as hard as \u201ca sword of fire and an axe of gold.\u201d The result of the bloody battle portrayed in the song is cursed by survivors in \u201cWinter\u2019s Wolves.\u201d \u201cThe Horned Goddess,\u201d who \u201csits astride mountains tall and wide,\u201d is a heavy salute to (I think) Hela – the Norse goddess of the underworld. The song chugs along like the boots of a Viking army climbing a glacier. \u201cIron Swan\u201d is a fast song about a dark boat that brings death to one\u2019s enemies. The guitars shred like stampeding horses on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cLament for the Aurochs\u201d is the heaviest doom-metal track on the record. The bass rumbles, the cymbals crash, and the guitar solos are like battle cries. The first verse alone tells you how heavy this song is: \u201cLaboring in the liquid light of Leviathan, spectres swarm around the sunken cities of the Saurians. Rising from the void through the blackness of eternal night, Colossus of the Deep crashing down with cosmic might.\u201d Who else is crafting lyrics like this?<\/p>\n

\u201cMarch of the Lor\u201d is a powerful \u201cinstrumental in eight movements\u201d that puts about ten minutes of blistering rock into less than five minutes. \u201cEbethron\u201d has a sweet drum solo in it (When was the last time you heard a drum solo in a song, metal or otherwise?) and is an epic tale of a warlord preparing for a world-shaking battle.<\/p>\n

The whole album is world-shaking. You need this in your collection if you\u2019re a metal fan.<\/p>\n

Keep your mind open.<\/p>\n