The Sword – Apocryphon

1. The Veil Of Isis
2. Cloak Of Feathers
3. Arcane Montane
4. The Hidden Masters
5. Dying Earth
6. Execrator
7. Seven Sisters
8. Hawks & Serpents
9. Eyes Of The Stormwitch
10.
“”” boasts in spades everything the band has been building towards over the past decade, including awesome riffs, clever lyrics, clean production, along with some totally badass cover artwork. While “Age Of Winters” and “Gods Of The Earth” saw releasing music that was significantly more of a doom metal sound, “Warp Riders” and now “” clearly shows the band moving into more traditional sounding riff-rock. owe a debt of gratitude to their influencers; bands like Black Sabbath, Rainbow, Merciful Fate and The Melvins, and fans of this source material will surely feel the magic on “”, an album of ten songs, all of which are awesome.”
“”” opens with the nearly six-minute long ‘Veil Of Isis’, a track that does two things effectively. Firstly, the song is one of the best on the album and it sets the bar high for the nine remaining songs. Secondly, it concisely showcases what to expect from the rest of the album by mixing interesting electronics, J.D. Cronise’s vocals, and the dual guitaring majesty of both Cronise and Kyle Shutt’s killer guitar riffs – all elements that will be highlighted in different ways on the remaining songs on the album. While “Warp Riders” steered towards a sludgy but cleaner sounding blend of southern rock and old school stoner-rock, “” cements the band’s musical direction. Everything on “” is amped up. Anyone who caught Mastodon with back in the day, and couldn’t quite figure out how the two bands jibbed, will completely get it when they play “”.”
“As soon as “” finishes up, I literally feel an urge to play the whole album again, and that is an uncommon emotion in this current musical climate. John “J. D.” Cronise, Kyle Shutt, Bryan Richie and Santiago “Jimmy” Vela III have created something genuinely unique with album number four. “” manages to sound timeless, like the material could have been written thirty years ago just as easily as it was last year. What’s really great about the new material is that is hasn’t been polished up in the studio to sound like something current and mechanized. The songs all sound like bona fide jams, delivered to perfection by a band stepping up their game.”
All That Is Heavy, Mike
Availability: Out of stock
2LP album
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