It’s been a long day which has
tossed me hither and yon but I am determined to deliver a music review before
my pumpkin bursts.
Disc 1133 is… Apocryphon
Artist: The Sword
Year of Release: 2012
What’s up with the Cover? All kinds of awesome. We’ve got
the classic “Sword” logo, arched over a mysterious sorceress. She’s conjured a
couple of floating runes and a triangle of fire out of the ruins of a collapsed
statue or temple. Also, she appears to be asking us to keep it down. Maybe the
Sword are her neighbours and she’s tired of them jamming at all hours of the
night.
How I Came To Know It: I discovered the band through
their “Age of Winters” album (reviewed back at Disc 1055) and this was
just me drilling through their collection.
How It Stacks Up: I have four albums by The Sword and I rank “Apocryphon”
second overall.
Ratings: 4 stars
Heft: there’s nothing like it. Like a tidal wave, or
a load of bricks, or the 440 V8 in a 1968 Dodge Charger, you can’t resist it. The
Sword’s fourth album “Apocryphon” has heft. It digs in, thick and visceral and
unleashes a torrent of chugging heavy metal riffs that are awesome and
inexorable.
The Sword is part of the New Wave of Traditional
Heavy Metal or NWOTHM (yeah, they could use a better acronym). This music has
its feet planted firmly in the birth of metal, channeling the early sludge of
Black Sabbath, the grind of Motorhead and the fantastical bombast of Iron
Maiden. Don’t expect to be surprised by creative new melodic structures – these
guys know what makes traditional metal great and they stay within it. Thudding
drums, power-chord fuelled guitars and churning energy that feels like the
earth’s gravitational pull; diffuse yet irresistible.
Unlike some metal bands, “Apocryphon” is not a bunch
of prima donna virtuosos playing their instruments. Instead, the focus is on all
four band members coming together to create a singular crunch.
Jimmy Vela’s drums have the dull thud of early Bill
Ward and guitarist Kyle Shutt eschews fast-fingered solos in favour of a groove
that fits right in with Vela’s boom-sticks. Thickening up them both is Bryan
Richie on bass. Lead singer JD Cronise doesn’t have Bruce Dickinson operatic chops,
but he has an echoing quality that is the perfect match for his band-mates.
Cronise channels early Ozzy but it isn’t derivative so much as it is the next
step in the slow furling of blues and metal into a single organism.
As for lyrics, “Apocryphon” keeps up the fine Sword tradition
of fantasy and horror fueled excess. Cronise sits in the pocket and fills all
that crazy with import and urgency, like you’ve been invited to some Mithraic
right. It is either going to end in shots of Jack Daniels or the bloody sacrifice
of a bull and both seem equally likely. Okay, more likely the bull.
It isn’t easy to make this stuff work, but Cronise
(aided by the crunch of the band) sells lines like:
“She wore a cloak
of feathers
And rode a mare of
purest white
A silver chalice in
her hand
A look of sadness
in her eyes”
And:
“So strikes the
Queen of the Air
Like a blow from a
titan’s hammer”
…with ease.
What are all these songs about? As with Dio songs
(another clear influence) it isn’t clear, but it seems Super Important. Mostly
it feels like you are witnessing the human race stagger into terrible eldritch
secrets we were never meant to know but that we can’t help pursue; the riffs
are just too cool to resist.
Sometimes with metal I find myself drawn into the
music, and other times the lyrics catch my attention, but with “Apocryphon” I
feel tugged equally in both directions. The mix is nice and steady and Cronise
sings with clarity and purpose. Any one of these songs could be the beginning
of some fantasy novel I would have read as a kid, and I bet if I’d heard these
guys when I was 10 they’d be my favourite. OK, maybe not my favourite (Blue
Oyster Cult, you will always have my heart) but you get the idea.
My only quibble is with the record packaging. The
cover art is cool, but it is on one of those cardboard covers that slide over
the jewel case and has no song listing. When you slide that off, the songs are
only listed in clever puzzles where the initials in the song’s title are drawn
together so they appear to be runes of some kind. Like “The Hidden Masters” is the “T”, “H” and M” all pulled together so
it looks like an ancient Norse character. Sheila deciphered it with ease so kudos
to her top-notch puzzle-solving skills, but shame on the band for being
deliberately obtuse. Next time put your clever rune riddles beside the track listing, not instead of
it.
Otherwise, there isn’t much not to like on “Apocryphon”.
I’ve had a draining few days but every time I’ve had the time to get “Apocryphon”
between my ears I’ve been renewed and invigorated. This is music for raising
your fist and sounding your barbaric yawp. Bust out the silver chalices and
toast the return of metal, molten and primordial.
Best
tracks: Cloak of
Feathers, The Hidden Masters, Execrator, Hawks & Serpents, Eye of the
Stormwitch, Apocryphon
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