CD Review: The Sword - Warp Riders

Artist: The Sword
Album: Warp Riders
Year: 2010
Stars: 4/5

Musically, the album has many positive factors. Most notably is the improved production. Thankfully, The Sword decided to work with a producer this time who does a much better job at mixing the vocals and drums than on previous releases. In addition, the bands musicianship seems to have improved. Drummer Trivett Wingo is much less focused on constant cymbal thrashing and more on creating groovy rhythms. The twin guitars are also utilized highly effectively. Songs like “Tres Brujas,” “Night City,” and “The Chronomancer I: Hubris” display best the bands new hard rock oriented sound. That’s not to say they’ve lost their edge, however. The albums two instrumentals, “Acheron/Unearthing The Orb,” and “Astrea’s Dream” are as heavy as anything they’ve done previously and the latter even showcases a bit of influence from Metallica.

However, there is some bad in this album. Unfortunately, It has not lived up to the full potential I had hoped it would due in most part to a lack of originality. Some reviewers have said that the first and second halves don’t match up very well. I have to disagree with this, I believe that they DO match up well, but that neither has any tracks with the staying power of those on their first album. In the case of The Swords third album, experimentation has backfired slightly and caused the group to loose its focus on writing heavy music. Sure, hard rock can be heavy, but this album with such a great concept and so much potential just falls far from what it could have been. Most notably on songs such as “Tres Brujas,” “Night City,” and “(The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire” which seem like mindless rehashes of one another.

In summation, Warp Riders has its stand out moments and a great sci-fi concept behind it, but the songs are not original or ground-breaking enough to have any long lasting effect on listeners.

 
Tracklist:
1. Acheron/Unearthing The Orb
2. Tres Brujas
3. Arrows in the Dark
4. The Chronomancer I: Hubris
5. Lawless Lands
6. Astraea's Dream
7. The Warp Riders
8. Night City
9. The Chronomancer II: Nemesis
10. (The Night The Sky Cried) Tears of Fire

Track Picks:
1. The Chronomancer II: Nemesis
2. Lawless Lands
3. The Warp Riders

For more info on teh Sci-Fi narrative behind the album, check out www.swordofdoom.com/

CD Review - Gojira

Artist: Gojira
Album: From Mars To Sirius
Year: 2006

I picked this CD up the other day at FYE. I had my first introduction to the French band Gojira at last years Metallica show in Atlanta, GA, where they were an opener before Lamb of God. Most of their songs were to me quite boring and hard to grasp in a live setting, but a few stood out and hinted that they might be a great band to get into. So when I went to the store and saw this disc with its awesome album artwork (created by guitarist / vocalist Joe Duplantier) featuring a cosmic whale drifting away from two mysterious planets, I knew I couldn't put it off buying it any longer.

First off, I always feel its good to classify a band into a genre (or several genres) to have some perspective. I would say that Gojira are influenced by typical mainstream metal acts as other reviews have suggested (Messhugah and Tool), but their sound also shows influence by more underground or less accessible acts such as prog-rockers Mastodon and Polish black metal bands like Behemoth. They fall somewhere between prog, post, and death/black metal. They feature all of the atmospherics of post metal, the non-traditional structures of prog, and the brutal pounding of death which gives them a very unique fusion sound which is original and refreshing.

This third album from the band is full of all these qualities as well as others. Opener "Ocean Planet" is probably my favorite song with its seamless transitions from brutal metal riffings to airy chord passages. Joe Duplantier is the obvious leader of the band and most likely contributes most of the songs riffs and structures. His voice is piercing and soulful, yet has a huge amount of energy to progress the songs and keep vocal passages from becoming stagnant. On this album there are screams, growls, yells, and even clean vocals. His ability to tackle all of these styles is very impressive. Then there's the riffs. They are heavy, technical, and original. Again, think black metal meets prog. The super heavy evil riffage is constantly being interlaced with beautiful strummed, arpeggiated, or picked passages building into a dense amalgam of sonic cloud swirling around the listeners head ("Ocean Planet," "Unicorn," "World To Come," "From Mars - To Sirius"). In addition to singing and playing, Joe also takes on the task of mixing the album. Although letting a member of the recorded band handle mixing can sometimes backfire, in this case it works. The drums have plenty of punch, the vocals sit right where they need to be, and the guitars have lots of dynamics and clarity.

There's plenty to be said of how good the album is, but I have my complaints. Mainly, the drummer is not on par with the songwriting skill of Joe Duplantier. I am just assuming that Joe writes most of these songs, but the drummer relenquishes to playing double bass or blast beats over many of his more complex riffs. The cymbal work is great, sure, but the kick drum is one of the most important factors in any type of rock music. Especially so in a band with very complex riffing that needs some kind of of bass drum pump to keep it moving. Rather than complimenting the riffs with rhythmically challenging foot work,  the drummer here would prefer to fall back on rhythms that have been done a thousand times before. He uses his kick drum as a fourth instrument playing something totally different from the others and keeps the songs from being as original as they could. Dont get me wrong, the drums aren't all bad, and this guy obviously has some technical skill (See the opener and "World To Come" as evidence), but he still holds a band that could be great from their ultimate potential.

Final Verdict:
4/5 Stars
An album full of sonic variety, progressive structures, brutal riffing, excellent musicianship from Joe Duplantier, and an original approach. However, the band is plagued by sub par drumming which is a constant drag to the songs power and originality.

Track Picks:
Ocean Planet
Where Dragons Dwell
In The Widerness


Track List:
1. Ocean Planet
2. Backbone
3. From The Sky
4. Unicorn
5. Where Dragons Dwell
6. The Heaviest Matter In The Universe
7. Flying Whales
8. In The Wilderness
9. World To Come
10. From Mars
11. To Sirius
12. Global Warming