June 2008

Gods of the Earth, Kemado

A couple of years ago The Sword made an awesome full-length debut with Age of Winters, a successful attempt at harnessing the best of Black Sabbath and more recent stoner metal bands. 

And although The Sword didn’t really offer anything new for the heavy metal world, the ample amount of heavy riffs and lyrics about mystical beasts and fantasy worlds made for a great album. And the same holds true for Gods of the Earth; the Austin, Texas, band is sticking to what it knows. Sure, there are a few more chugging up- tempo tracks, a few less cut-to-the-quick guitar riffs and a sprinkling of guitar squeals, but it doesn’t feel that much different than Age of Winters. That’s not really a bad thing.

The opener, “The Sundering” is a 2-minute instrumental that sounds more like it was made in Sweden than the Texas- infused stoner metal that follows on the rest of the album. Things quickly fall into place though on “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter” with vocalist J.D. Cronise, not surprisingly, singing about a triumphant warrior who gets lured into danger by a seductive temptress. “Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians” shows that The Sword is capable of speeding things up successfully with a classic metal gallop propelling the song forward. And “Mother, Maiden and Crone” shows they still have the riffs that made Age of Winters a success.

Gods of the Earth is a great album when you just want some straight to the point heavy guitars and mindless lyrics about ancient warriors of old, and don’t we all need that sometimes?