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Review: The Sword - Age of Winters
The Sword
swordofdoom.com
Age of Winters

Label: Kemado
Year released: 2006
Duration: 42:57
Tracks: 9
Genre: Doom Metal

Rating:
3.5/5


Review online: February 18, 2007
Reviewed by: Sargon the Terrible
Readers' Rating
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Rated 2.6/5 (52%) (15 Votes)
Review

The Sword (not Sword, that was a different band) have been making a bit of a splash with this, their debut, and while this is a decent CD, I don't get all the fuss being made about it. The Sword are a Doom band from Texas, this is their debut, and while it has some very good things about it, it's not wonderful.

The Sword are almost a Black Sabbath cover band, the resemblance is so close. The Sword have the riff thing down, and the guitar tone is nice and retro, so that's all good. If all we wanted was Sabbath-style riffs this would be a perfect album, but The Sword need to work on two things before they will be a band with the potential for greatness. First, they need better vocals. JD Cronise is decent, but his voice lacks any kind of depth or range, and he sounds strained. He seems to have about a six-note range, and so the vocals sound pretty much the same on all the songs simply because he lacks the proficiency to make them sound different. He can get by carrying a tune, but he adds nothing to the music and frequently detracts from it. Second, the songwriting is just not very strong. The riffs are good, but the way they are put together into songs is uninspired and lacks identity. Cronise's voice is no help here either.

There is definite potential here, as these guys have the right idea and they crank out killer riffs. But despite the buzz The Sword are not great, but they could be. A band worth keeping an eye on, but they have a ways to go before they can equal bands like Grand Magus.

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