The Sword

Eyesore wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Rock and Metal is chock full of juvenilia, I don't see how singing about pot is any more juvenile than singing about demons, wizards, knights, dragons or various other silly shit aimed at 13 year old boys.  

Demons, wizards, knights, and dragons seems a lot more interesting than smoking weed. Haha.

Gonna have to second this.

Maybe it's just a pile of bad experience, but when I see the word "stoner," attached to something, it just turns me completely off. Whatever it USED to be, it's now become another gospel to spread and I've met more than my share of potheads who would have burnt down your house by mistake and then given you crap for being pissed at them for it because it was ruining their good time.

That and, let's be fair, drinking, girls, or Dio subject matter may be juvenile, but at least they involve ACTIVITY and not sitting on a couch watching reruns of Married with Children devouring snack food like black holes suck up...well, pretty much everything, I guess.

Runicen wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

S.D. wrote:

Rock and Metal is chock full of juvenilia, I don't see how singing about pot is any more juvenile than singing about demons, wizards, knights, dragons or various other silly shit aimed at 13 year old boys.  

Demons, wizards, knights, and dragons seems a lot more interesting than smoking weed. Haha.

Gonna have to second this.  

Maybe it's just a pile of bad experience, but when I see the word "stoner," attached to something, it just turns me completely off.  Whatever it USED to be, it's now become another gospel to spread and I've met more than my share of potheads who would have burnt down your house by mistake and then given you crap for being pissed at them for it because it was ruining their good time.

That and, let's be fair, drinking, girls, or Dio subject matter may be juvenile, but at least they involve ACTIVITY and not sitting on a couch watching reruns of Married with Children devouring snack food like black holes suck up...well, pretty much everything, I guess.

That's really it. Weed is a pretty is not a very "deep" subject matter. If you've heard one song about weed, you've heard them all. Lyrically, I mean.

Eyesore wrote:

Though I listen to a ton of bands who glorify weed in their music, I find that if I focus on the lyrics I can't help but think it's extremely juvenile. It just irks me. Maybe my never having smoked weed (or done any drug outside of alcohol) means I'm not "enlightened" enough, but at a minimum I just don't get how you can write about the same damn thing over and over again, album after album. It's bizarre.

Not that The Sword have done that, of course. I'm just rambling.

You'd love Sleep's "Dopesmoker" then.

deathisgain wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

Though I listen to a ton of bands who glorify weed in their music, I find that if I focus on the lyrics I can't help but think it's extremely juvenile. It just irks me. Maybe my never having smoked weed (or done any drug outside of alcohol) means I'm not "enlightened" enough, but at a minimum I just don't get how you can write about the same damn thing over and over again, album after album. It's bizarre.

Not that The Sword have done that, of course. I'm just rambling.

You'd love Sleep's "Dopesmoker" then.

Never liked Sleep. Not sure why, but it was the lyrical content.

Any band that focuses solely on one topic (whether it be banging chicks, Satan, war, etc) is going to be rather dull.

I always find it humorous to hear people who don't smoke pot talk about people that do smoke pot. The rampant stereotyping without an ounce of hands on data is always amusing.

S.D. wrote:

Any band that focuses solely on one topic (whether it be banging chicks, Satan, war, etc) is going to be rather dull.  

I always find it humorous to hear people who don't smoke pot talk about people that do smoke pot.  The rampant stereotyping without an ounce of hands on data is always amusing.  

I'm not stereotyping. No, I don't have any first-hand "smoker's" experience, but I grew up around that shit. My dad and all his friends smoked it. Hell, he sold it! Haha. And right in front of us. He never kept it hidden. (Not sure what that says about my parents' parenting.) And pretty much everyone I've ever known has smoked it, so I definitely haven't been sheltered from that sort of thing.

Witchfinder wrote:

Here's yet another song.  This time it's "The Dreamthieves:"

http://bravewords.com/news/the-sword-premier-the-dreamthieves-lyric-video

Based on the four tracks I've heard I think this is going to end up being my favorite of their releases so far.

Another new track...and this time they're bringing da funk!! Check out the horns around 3:32

http://www.theprp.com/2015/08/10/news/the-sword-premiere-new-song-early-snow/

Bruce Fairbairn has risen from the grave and is producing The Sword now

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Another new track...and this time they're bringing da funk!! Check out the horns around 3:32

http://www.theprp.com/2015/08/10/news/the-sword-premiere-new-song-early-snow/

Bruce Fairbairn has risen from the grave and is producing The Sword now

Wtf? Bizarre.

A co-worker of mine that sent me that link is freaking out over the horns. It's unusual for them, yes, but I don't mind it.

I think this new album is going to be very divisive among fans of the band. You will either love it or hate it, no middle ground.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

A co-worker of mine that sent me that link is freaking out over the horns. It's unusual for them, yes, but I don't mind it.

I think this new album is going to be very divisive among fans of the band. You will either love it or hate it, no middle ground.

That song sounds like a typical The Sword song with horns tacked on to the end. It's weird, but hardly a deal breaker. I am sure I'll enjoy the album.

I'm all for them getting a little more experimental with this new album. Anything to liven things up from that last one, which I still think is boring.

S.D. wrote:

Any band that focuses solely on one topic (whether it be banging chicks, Satan, war, etc) is going to be rather dull.  

I always find it humorous to hear people who don't smoke pot talk about people that do smoke pot.  The rampant stereotyping without an ounce of hands on data is always amusing.  

Meh. I've done it. I just don't get how it's a lifestyle. If any other drug were treated the way pot is, people would be quick to go, "Dude, you're an addict and it's kind of sad." When it's pot, it still carries that stupid, hippie mythos of consciousness expansion. The high, for me (and I don't seem to be in the minority here) was always a really stupid, laughy affair. I didn't meet Jesus, Buddha or Mohammed. I just found everything uproariously funny and really wanted snacks.

That and my hands on experience with most smokers hasn't exactly been positive. Maybe I've just found some outliers, but my brother got heavy into it and he and his friends were pretty crude, selfish people and when I meet new people who are into it, nine times out of ten, it's this absurdly selfish "all about me" and "don't harsh my mellow" kind of trip.

Maybe I'm just tired of it being "the issue of our times" and all of that, who knows. Just worth pointing out that it's not like I read about it once in a book and based my entire opinion of the habit and "lifestyle" on a second-hand account...

I have friends that smoke pot but I can't say any of them treat it as a "lifestyle". I also have friends that are into brewing their own beer and in my experience they're not using that as a lifestyle choice, it's just something they enjoy in their spare time.

Most of my friends that smoke pot aren't sitting on their couch for 8 hours a day laughing uncontrollably either. Unless they're a MAJOR lightweight.

The album dropped on Apple Music tonight and I'm enjoying it the first time through. A more interesting album than Apocryphon and also displaying some major expansion in sound and songwriting. Vintage synths, guitar sounds and 70s studio effects abound. It's definitely got some boogie/groove/funk going on, while still sounding like The Sword. There are a few instrumentals and a couple more experimental tracks mixed in with the expected rockers. There's a lot of sounds going on here, it will be interesting to listen to it more closely.

A co-worker bought the download and gave me a cdr to preview. First impressions after one spin are...ok.

It strikes me as more of a hard rock record this time around and not as metal as past efforts. Not that it's a bad thing, but some folks might be turned off by that. Some of the music interludes in between songs seem kind of point-less. They don't really serve as intros to the songs and seem a little out of place. I guess you could assemble a playlist and skip them if you're so inclined. The additions of horns and female background vocals don't bother me, as with some of the other experimentation they're trying on this new one.

Right now, I don't dislike it, but I don't love it either. I may just hold onto this cdr for a bit and give it some more spins before I get the album myself. I think it has potential, but it's going to take a little time to sink in.

It's a change...but I think it still sounds like them.

There is only on "intro" on the album (opening Unicorn Farm), the others are stand-alone instrumentals and very good.  Agartha is a moody synth-driven piece and Suffer No Fools is one of the best rockers on the album.  The acoustic instrumental Silver Petals is really nice too.  I like how these tunes were sequenced into the album, gives it a nice ebb and flow.

I had pretty much written this band off, I'm glad they came back with something unique and demanded I pay attention again.

I will pick it up soon and check it out.

Playing it over the weekend, I found it a little on the boring side. I spaced out a few times when it was on in the car.

It arrived in the mail today. It seems a lot more mellow than usual. I'll burn my download and listen in the car to see if it comes across differently.

chewie wrote:

It arrived in the mail today. It seems a lot more mellow than usual. I'll burn my download and listen in the car to see if it comes across differently.

One major difference is they are no longer tuning down to "C" like all their other albums, this record is tuned to E Flat.  They are also using much cleaner guitar sounds overall.  

I prefer this sound to any of their other records.  I played this album all weekend and really enjoyed it.  There are only 2 tracks I'm not crazy about (Early Snow and Ghost Eye).  

In all fairness, I've only listened to this album once on Spotify. It didn't really hold my attention, but that doesn't mean I won't like it with a few more listens. I seemed to like the second half of the album more than the first half. I'll give my opinion once I've given it repeated listens.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Playing it over the weekend, I found it a little on the boring side. I spaced out a few times when it was on in the car.

I'm not too impressed, either. I dig it, but...I don't know, it's missing something. Can't imagine this will ever be my go-to Sword album, you know. As of right now, I'd say it'll be one of those albums from which I only ever hear a song every now and then because I pretty much listen to my collection on shuffle.

I'm also annoyed that the one song that I dug the most, "Turned to Dust," just stops. There's no ending, it's moving along nicely and then—done. WTF?

Eyesore wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Playing it over the weekend, I found it a little on the boring side. I spaced out a few times when it was on in the car.

I'm not too impressed, either. I dig it, but...I don't know, it's missing something. Can't imagine this will ever be my go-to Sword album, you know. As of right now, I'd say it'll be one of those albums from which I only ever hear a song every now and then because I pretty much listen to my collection on shuffle.

I'm also annoyed that the one song that I dug the most, "Turned to Dust," just stops. There's no ending, it's moving along nicely and then—done. WTF?

The album seems to pick up around track 7. The first half is still kinda dull to me. I could probably whittle it down to a decent ep if I were so inclined. Bummer. I wanted to like this, but I'm trying too hard to find something that grabs me.

It sounds like an album full of unfinished ideas and outtakes. I like a good chunk of the material, but I can see how most fans will be disappointed with the album.