Double Door: The Sword
Double Door: The Sword
Photo Courtesy Razor & Tie, Publicity Services
Double Door: The Sword
Double Door: The Sword
Photo Courtesy Razor & Tie, Publicity Services
“The Sword consistently gives their audience a fully realized experience.” This is under the section of ‘Lore’ on The Sword’s band website explaining the feeling and story behind their most recent album ‘Apocryphon’ which debuted in the top 20 on the Billboard top 200. The Sword has been compared to and Black Sabbath, citing other influences such as Slayer, The Melvins, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. They opened for Ozzy Osbourn in Europe back in 2010, and also that year toured with Metallica. The Sword sticks close to its metal roots while still trying to dig deeper and move forward, not away from the rock genre.
John D. Cronise whom helped form the band, writes most of the lyrics, supplies lead vocals, and plays guitar. Citing heavy influences of Norse Mythology, older Science fiction, and uses such writers as H. P. Lovecraft, Arthur C. Clarke and George R. R. Martin as inspirations.
Their first album Age of Winters had much of the material been written by Cronise before the band had even formed. Gods of War which was their second album and first one to put them on the Billboard top 200 coming in at 102 was more of a collaborative writing process with the band. Warp Riders was a concept album which centered around an original concept created by Cronise Coming in at 47 on the Billboard top 200. Apocryphon is derived from the word ‘Apocrypha’ meaning ‘hidden teachings’ referring to books of the bible that were kind of discarded and regarded as ‘too intense’ for the simpletons of that era to comprehend.
The Double Door was packed to the brim for this show, bands Eagle Claw and Gypsy Hawk opened, but unfortunately to bad timing we were only able to make it in time for The Sword. My friends and I waited in the bar under the stage floor for the show to begin and that under area just has the vibes for a good metal or grunge show. The music was cranked to eleven and nearly everyone was bobbing in unison to the metal that had been brought before us. I had a great time at the show and was impressed with their new album I hadn’t had much time to listen to before seeing them. Not only were band shirts and albums available for purchase, but also so was the bands new hot sauce, ‘Tears of Fire.’ Which has been featured on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, and on the bottle claims to be, “banned in most galaxies.”
The show was great; if you’re looking for some metal in all the right places, definitely give The Sword a go. I feel like it could be on Nathan Explosions iPod. Apocryphon though not my favorite is a nice addition to their music, and still keeps with their heavy influence in pure and unadulterated METAL. But don’t take my word for it…
