The Sword

Heavy metal, like killing, is an acquired taste. In my whole life, I've listened to 2, maybe 3 heavy metal songs all the way through. Then there's the Austin band The Sword, with their song titles like "Maiden, Mother & Crone," "How Heavy this Axe," and "Iron Swan": how is a mortal human not supposed to fully enjoy that? For crying out loud, their website url is "swordofdoom.com"! My understanding of heavy metal and bands like Gwar and Motorhead is they have an undercurrent of humor to it; that you're supposed to laugh a little bit at the excess, dripping intensity. The Austin Sound illuminated The Sword beyond the normal cock rock and bad hair in a recent interview:

"JDC [J.D. Cronise] : One thing people always seem to be amused by is the fact that as a band we listen to a lot of hip-hop. They seem to assume we listen to nothing but Black Sabbath. I actually owned a Run-DMC record before I owned a Led Zeppelin record...

...I try to draw inspiration from archetypal mythological forms and look for the commonalities among various stories and traditions. One such archetypal story is the hero’s journey, which is illustrated in countless myths, legends, books, movies, etc. I’ve always been fascinated by tales of a lone hero on a quest, and that plays prominently into the themes of the songs for our next album."

The themes are nothing new in the family of bands with names like Alabama Thunderpussy, but the Sword stands out musically. For me, heavy metal is something you just have to do with a deep breath, and simply plunge your face into the ice. Not that you should stop thinking about its potency or its storyline (as The Sword said above), but if you're into Neil Young's greatest hits--it requires some acoustic sacrifice. The Sword, however, is one of those bands that hits the hammer harder then most. More like the feeling you get when you listen to Dinosaur Jr. over Gwar, The Sword makes you think: this is great.

The Sword - Mother, Maiden and Crone