The Sword

2015 saw the Texan four-piece release their fifth studio album, High Country, to unanimous critical acclaim – which is just as well, considering positivity has characterised the album’s entire existence.

“Making this record was easily the highlight of my entire year,” says John D. Cronise, the band’s lead singer, chief songwriter, and one of two guitarists. “The whole process of writing it, working on it, getting it out – it was one of the best experiences we have ever had as a band in terms of that side of things.

“It’s a record we’re really proud of, and it’s a record that we really enjoy playing live. We went on tour through Europe a little bit after the record came out, and it was really great to take it to places we’d never played before. We got to play in places like Tilburg [in the Netherlands] and Norway, which was a really positive experience. Touring this album has been so exciting. We’re looking forward to sharing these songs with you down in Australia for the very first time.”

Being 12 years and five albums into their career, The Sword were determined to venture into unknown territory on High Country in order to keep things interesting for both themselves and their listeners. This led to further use of synthesizer, a drum machine running through the track ‘Seriously Mysterious’, and various instrumental interludes throughout the song sequence. The palette expansion could well have left older fans out in the cold, or made for a more challenging live show, but neither has been the case.

“People have been really cool about it,” Cronise says. “We think the record translates really well live, even the stuff that’s obviously very studio-centric. When we’re playing one of those different tracks, you’re always going to look up from your guitar and see a few doubting bearded faces in the crowd [laughs]. You just know that we’re the least gnarly band that these guys go and see. We’d like to think that, by coming to see us, you’re getting a bit of an education about a rock’n’roll show. It’s not all just about the volume or the intensity. It’s about the dynamics. It’s about letting the songs speak for themselves. Once we’ve done that, I know we’ll get those doubting faces to crack a smile.”

High Country came out last August, and Australian audiences will get the chance to witness it live later this month. 2016 also marks a special anniversary for The Sword – it’s been ten years since they properly arrived on the scene with their debut album, Age Of Winters. Cronise himself wasn’t actually aware of the fact until now, but when looking back on that album’s creation, he associates it with the Spinal Tap dream of turning amps up to 11 and attempting to truly embody their authoritative band name.

“With making that record, we wanted it to be a really bold statement,” he says. “We wanted it to be as undeniable as we could make it – we wanted to make the heaviest heavy metal that we knew how to make. It wasn’t to the extreme of, say, death metal or anything like that. Without going to that extreme, though, we still wanted to try and reflect our name as best we could. We wanted to be a musical sword, chopping stuff up, sharp and dangerous. These days, I think that same sword is a little more tempered. We’re not running around trying to decapitate people anymore. Now it’s a little more ceremonial. It’s kept in a glass case in a cavalry somewhere – it never gets used, but it still looks really nice.”