For all intents and purposes, The Sword's Gods
Of The Earth is
the exact same album as its predecessor, Age Of Winters. That isn't a good thing.
Like the group's debut, Gods sounds like a botched retelling of a bad joke
about heavy metal. Every moldy riff can be smelled from miles away, and each
battleaxe-and-wizard-littered image is lifted wholesale from the side of a '70s
custom van. Of course, there's a thin line between having fun and poking
fun—but it's never clear where The Sword is coming from. Sadly, it seems
likely that these guys take what they do seriously. When did mythic quests and
thunderous battles become so quotidian and inconsequential? How can cranking
everything to 11 produce such a whimper? With metal-scavenging bands like Big
Business and Saviours currently stalking the earth with far more brute force
and riff-wielding instinct, The Sword feels dull. In spite of a few points for
basic competency—the band deserves at least a little credit for figuring out
how to hold their guitars with the strings facing the right way—Age Of
Winters comes
off as the soundtrack to a particularly lame tactical RPG. Final Fantasy? If only.