The Sword - Live at Bowery Ballroom with Valient Thorr, Black Cobra [12/6/07]

by crustcake gerf (photos by Jesse Angelo)

Austin's The Sword may not be reinventing the wheel with their vintage stoner-doom bigriffs, medieval themes, and general bad-assery, but they do what they do with such efficiency and fervor that it hardly matters. Their "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach is commendable and, though they'll certainly never see any accolades for innovation absent some drastic shift in artistic direction, they manage to explore a style of music that's been done countless times before without sounding wholly derivative. In short, The Sword take a tried-and-true formula and give it new life.

Last week, they dropped by Bowery Ballroom with Valient Thorr and thrash duo Black Cobra in tow. Jason Landrian and Rafael Martinez of Black Cobra put out a lot of volume for a two-piece (though not as much as Seattle's Big Business), and their performance was tight. Landrian and Martinez are a well-oiled machine and, despite their disparate physical appearances, were quite possibly separated at birth only to be reunited years later in a fateful meeting. Their minds seem to be in tune with each other's when they play, and the ferocious riffs of Landrian's guitar meld with the heavy-hitting blitz of Martinez' (who also plays bass with Bay-area doom outfit Acid King) drums in a seamless, high-octane explosion.


[Black Cobra]

If there is one thing that really stands out about this duo, it's their wide tempo variance. In the space of a single song, Black Cobra often shift between furious, punkish blast beats and impossibly slow breakdowns. Occasionally these breakdowns steer dangerously close to the tired, regurgitated, simple-trick breakdowns of metalcore, but here the context is quite different, and it seems to work for Black Cobra.

Next up was Valient Thorr, who I admittedly knew nothing about. Still downstairs after a post-Black Cobra beverage, I could hear-- but not see-- their first song. Naturally, my ears incited my mind to paint a picture of the band's appearance, but when I finally went upstairs and got my first glimpse of them, I could not have been more surprised. On stage was a quintet of rock star characters-- four of them clad in patchy, sleeveless jean jackets and the fifth, the singer, already shirtless, glistening gut exposed. Embodying the 'Thorr' persona (most band members take 'Thorr' as their surname à la The Ramones) there was more hair onstage than on a barber shop floor.

With a cock-rock flair, vocalist Valient Himself (yeah, that's his name) pranced about the stage, all the while preaching his political views. On the one hand-- although his political views seemed on the same wavelength as my own-- it was a bit obnoxious but, on the other hand, his preaching was almost refreshing with its garish, unapologetic tone. It was reminiscent of a bygone day when rock n' roll was more overtly concerned with challenging authority and protesting the status quo; when rock stars weren't afraid to flaunt their convictions before a vast audience.

A fairly substantial group of hecklers took issue with Valient Thorr, calling for The Sword and offering up poignant comments such as "you suck!" and "get off the stage!" Though numerous, the dissenters were clearly in the minority, as every time Valient Himself asked the crowd, "you know what I'm talkin' about?!" (which was several times), the predominant response was resounding cheers and raised fists.

Shortly after the Thorr brothers vanished, the lights dimmed and The Sword took the stage to anxious cheers from the New York crowd, who had not had seen the band in nearly a year. Wasting no time, The Sword kicked things off with "Barael's Blade," then followed up with their Guitar Hero II hit "Freya." Initially, the mix was sub-par-- guitars were sorely lacking presence and volume-- and their performance was a bit lackluster. The latter can almost certainly be chalked up to the fact that The Sword have been touring for the better part of three years-- during the course of which they've played nearly 300 shows-- and yet they've released only one proper studio album.

By the third or fourth song, however, the mix had greatly improved, as had their energy. The improvement in their performance during these two songs was hardly surprising, as both were new songs. In general, there was a noticeable difference in The Sword's collective enthusiasm between the Age of Winters songs and the newer cuts.

Refreshingly, the setlist contained more new songs than old (6 to 5), each of which promises to be an excellent contribution to their sophomore effort, which is due in March via eccentric NYC label and crustcake favorites Kemado Records.

Setlist - The Sword @ Bowery Ballroom, 12/6/2007:

"Barael's Blade"
"Freya"
(new song)
(new song)
"Winter's Wolves"
"To Take the Black" (new)
(new song)
"Iron Swan":

"The Black River" (new)
"The Red White Sea" (new)

Encore:
"The Horned Goddess"

Ultimately, though they may not be innovators, The Sword are a reputable band, proclaiming their devotion to authentic heavy metal and toting the songs-- and riffs-- to back it up. Jack Booty of Prefix put it this way: "This genre is growing thicker by the minute, and navigating your way through the smoke can be difficult, but The Sword is a worthy stop along the journey."

[MP3] The Sword - "Under the Boughs"
[MP3] The Sword - "Freya"
[MP3] The Sword - "Winter's Wolves"
[MP3] Valient Thorr - "The Man Behind the Curtain"
[MP3] Black Cobra - "Below the Cusp"

The Sword [MySpace] [MP3]
Age of Winters [Amazon]