Review
The Sword
Greetings From...

The Sword produce a very special kind of metal. It’s the kind of metal that hits hard as fuck, but with tremendous songwriting that brings with it the sludge from the underbelly of a Texas oil field. The Sword seem to toe that sweet spot between mindnumbing, scraping, smack with an open palm, head shot guitar and sweet 70s rock n roll. They owe as much to ZZ Top as they do to Black Sabbath and they do it well. The Austin, TX band’s last full length record, 2015’s High Country was followed by an acoustic version of the record entitled Low Country. Both records sit at the peaks of stoner metal summits. The Sword went out on tour in 2016 with Opeth and from those shows, they cut their first live record entitled Greetings From… released on Razor & Tie.

There is little disappointment here. Greetings From... is electric and spans their entire 5 album catalog. The crazy riffs, banging rhythm section, and lyrics from the Halls of Valhalla provide an almost perfect aura for a live setting. In reality, The Sword’s sound is arena ready with John D. Cronise bringing a gentlemanly southern drawl to his Beowulf style tales. The deep, bluesy sound is buried among the heavy bass and distortion but is showcased on album highlights “Buzzards”, “Mother, Maiden, & Crone”, “Tres Brujas” and “Mist and Shadow”. The band is going back out on tour to promote Greetings From… with multiple bands including Clutch, Lucero, Pontiak, and Croy & the Boys all at select shows, and then a headlining tour with Big Jesus on the West Coast beginning on July 17th. Greetings From… will provide only a small slice of what they live shows are like.