The Sword
Warp Riders
Kemado

First ever concept album from Texan metal monsters The Sword, which, as you might guess from the cover, draws its cosmic inspiration from old bargain bin sci-fi novels and creased issues of Heavy Metal magazine. Warp Riders, then, is a conscious thematic shift for the band, which has set its lyrical sights this time on the great beyond, tackling planetary forces of good and evil instead of the more earthly doom and gloom of battle axes and black magic. The narrative, in brief, is about Ereth, an archer who has been banished from his tribe on the planet Acheron, which is stuck in a tidal lock, meaning that half of it is shrouded in darkness while the other half is burnt by the heat of three different suns. Got it? Good. Warp Riders is also a bit of a musical departure for The Sword as well, who have surround their space-world narrative with some freak-fried, 70s-infused boogie doom, and the whole thing kind of sounds like Witchcraft and Year Long Disaster gigging biker bars on Mars. Dig the thick, red rock n’ roll on “Tres Brujas,” “Lawless Lands,” “Night City,” and “(The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire” for the best examples. But listen, the faithful needn’t worry because The Sword haven’t completely abandoned their head-banging aesthetics; they’ve just fused some asteroid-splitting riffs with their old pro stoner thrashing for a massively dope ride through the outermost limits. And it really is some awesome stuff.

Listen to “Night City” from Warp Riders!

Red Sparowes
The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer
Sargent House

The best thing about Red Sparowes’ latest album, The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer, for me is that it’s not outwardly advertising its pretentiousness. Ok, so the album title leans a little on the nerdy side, but a quick glance at the song titles and you’ll have to double-check that it is, in fact, a Red Sparowes record. Not since their 2004 demo has the band adorned their inwardly pretentious post-rock with such simple, humble, and dare I say accessible, song titles. You won’t find anything like “And By Our Own Hand Did Every Last Bird Lie Silent in Their Puddles, the Air Barren of Song as the Clouds Drifted Away. For Killing Their Greatest Enemy, the Locusts Noisily Thanked Us and Turned Their Jaws Toward Our Crops, Swallowing Our Greed Whole” on this one. No, sir. Now you get “A Swarm” and “A Mutiny.” So, does this change in absurd narrative also signal an attitude adjustment where the LA band’s sweeping, lush, atmospheric music is concerned? Well, the thing about heavy, beauty-soaked, experimental rock is that it’s geeky by nature, dude, and now matter how it’s dressed up, you’re still probably not hip enough to get it. So, there’s nothing on The Fear… (shortened for brevity) you haven’t got before (or not got, as the case may be) from Red Sparowes except maybe shorter songs and a new female guitarist. It crawls then climbs, soars then drops; crescendos crashing, tempests taunting…that sort of thing. That is to say, it’s all mood-based, epic, instrumental storytelling with enough of a Pelican vibe to please the metal-head in me and enough of a Mogwai vibe to please the shoe-gazer in my wife, and in case you didn’t know, the guitarist is from Isis, if that floats your boat. Basically, if you like your music on a pedestal, if you like it to grab you and shake you like you’re living in a waking dream, Red Sparowes will tickle your inner nerd.

Listen to “In Every Mind” from The Fear is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer!