The Sword - High Country

The Sword
High Country
2015

Stoner-Metal, Psych-Rock however you want to describe it The Sword make music that seems to come from a by gone era. If it was 1974 The Sword would be one of the biggest rock bands out there no question. Their fifth album High Country sees them taking a break from their usual hard metal sound and instead dipping their toes into a more psychedelic space-rock type of music. The result is trippy and long guitar runs that take you off into infinity. Throughout the album The Sword switches back and forth from a harder sounding metal into the more psychedelic twinged stuff. It is like at once they are channeling Ozzy then change their mind and switch to Cream. You never really know where they are going to go next track after track so the record keeps you on your toes and has surprises around almost every corner. "Suffer No Fools" one the vocal free tracks falls more on the heavier metal side and includes a guitar solo that even gets a cheesy audience cheering at the end.

It is difficult to really get into this album because The Sword takes a genre that is so far gone so very serious. There is very little lightness o playfulness to the record, everything is quite ominous. With a band like The Darkness they know they are doing something kind of kitchy and that self awareness makes it more enjoyable. There really is none of that here. The lack of cohesion on High Country is also an issue. Throughout the album you are looking for something to hold on to but it just never comes, it just becomes a collection of single tracks that have been smashed together. High Country just misses the mark on many levels and for most is probably a pass.

4.7 out of 10