by The Sword
One of the foundations of the metal revival of the past ten years, Austin TX’s The Sword have released two flawless slabs of vintage heaviness on Kemado Records, toured the world with Metallica, and were one of the first bands to lock into a whole new legion of fans through Guitar Hero. This summer, the band casts its gaze to the stars for Warp Riders, their third full-length and most ambitious effort to date.
Warp Riders is The Sword’s first concept album, a science fiction maelstrom put to the storming, relentless riffs and pounding rhythms upon which the band has staked its reputation. It’s also their most flat-out, supercharged, adrenaline-pumping work yet, a chrome-plated war machine that lauds over the blackened sky.
Warp Riders tells the tale of Ereth, an archer banished from his tribe on the planet Acheron. A hardscrabble planet that has undergone a tidal lock, which has caused one side to be scorched by three suns, and the other enshrouded in perpetual darkness, it is the background for a tale of strife and fantasy, the battle between pure good and pure evil. How it’s told – through the dueling lead guitars of J.D. Cronise and Kyle Shutt, and the concussive rhythm section of bassist Bryan Ritchie and drummer Trivett Wingo – underscores the narrative with molten steel and unreal precision.
The story of Warp Riders, entitled ‘The Night The Sky Cried Tears Of Fire’ (written by Cronise), follows Ereth as he discovers a mysterious orb and meets the Chronomancer, a being beyond time and space who enlists him in a quest to restore the planet’s balance. Along the way he encounters strange warriors, mysterious witches, ancient androids, and a crew of space pirates with a vessel that will alter the course of history... a vessel known as, The Sword.
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