Inauguriamo il mio nuovo account con la recensione di un album targato 2006.

"Age Of Winters" è il primo, potente disco dei "The Sword", quartetto Texano che suona un misto tra Stoner e Doom Metal e che ha visitato il nostro paese in occasione del concerto dei Metallica il 22 Luglio 2008 a Bologna, regalandoci una performance tutto sommato non male.

L'album è composto da nove tracce, tutte condite da chitarre distorte, doppia cassa, voce quasi lamentosa e pesantissimi riff alla i Black Sabbath.

Dall'intro "Celestial Crown" siamo catapultati in un oceano di pesantezza e mitologia nordica che si continua con "Barael's Blade" e la splendida "Freya", colonna portante dell'album. Proseguiamo il nostro viaggio magico attraverso la potentissima batteria di "Winter's Wolves" e  "The Horned Goddess", per giungere quindi all' intro lenta di "Iron Swan", altro brano cardine del disco.

I seguenti due brani proseguono lo standard impostato dai precedenti, mentre la conclusiva "Ebethron" mette ancora in mostra le doti del batterista in un breve ma intenso assolo.

Cosa aspettarci quindi da questi "The Sword"? Tanta tanta pesantezza (cosa che non mi stancherò mai di ripetere) e tanta tanta passione.

Basta tutto questo per fare un buon album Heavy? Secondo me sì.

E allora scateniamoci con del sano Headbanging ascoltando "Age Of Winters".

Elenco tracce testi e video

01   Celestial Crown (01:57)

Instrumental

02   Barael's Blade (02:48)

03   Freya (04:34)

A Sword of fire and an axe of cold
Vision of the sibyl has fortold
Armies gather on the battle-plain
All will fall and earth will die in flame

Here on the Battle-Plain
We will die in Flame

In Falcon's feathers soaring overhead
Choosing warriors among the dead
Twilight written in the runes of crones
Freya weeps upon her golden throne

Upon her golden throne
We wait for her alone
Call us unto your hall
Take us into your thrall

The battle rages, bit they fight in vain
When all is done it must begin again.

04   Winter's Wolves (04:36)

Can't you see what you have brought here?
Bloody battles will be fought here

May the mountains rise against you
May the forests block your path
May your axes chip and shatter
and know it is my wrath

I would mount your heads on bloody spears
outside your palace gates
And watch as crows peck out your eyes
And your cities are laid to waste

Can't you see what you have wrought here?
A curse on you and all your kin
Bloody battles will be fought here
Await your doom at empire's end
May the rivers rush to drown you
May the earth swallow your hosts
May the winter's wolves surround you
And rip the life from your throats

05   The Horned Goddess (05:01)

06   Iron Swan (05:46)

Iron Swan
The Sword
Iron ships on seas of blood
Black winds fill their silver sails
Iron swan rises high above
in crimson twilight through the earthly veil

Legions of vermin surround me
malefic taint in their eyes
Madness gives sway to delusion
in defense of a fortress of lies

The iron swan floats amidst the reeds
It’s shadow long upon the water
It gives a cry for what can never be
which draws the eyes of Odin’s daughters

Scion of storms, aegis of rime
I call on the powers of old
Unleash your vengeance to punish the crimes
of those who I name as my foes

07   Lament for the Aurochs (07:59)

Laboring in the liquid light of Leviathan
Spectres swarm around the sunken cities of the Saurians
Rising up from the void through the blackness of eternal night
Colossus of the deep comes crashing down with cosmic might

And none may see again the shimmering of Avalon
Or know the fates of all the races man has cursed
Long gone are the ages of the Alchemists
Now there are none who know the secrets of the Earth

Harken to the howl of the huntsman’s hounds
Or the clarion of kingdoms doomed and drowned
Lost to these lands is lore of the high ones
Sunless skies await the return of hte Archons

Lament the passing of the Auroch
And the slaying of the ancient wyrm
Would you dare to meet the gaze of the Basilisk
Or face the flames as the Phoenix burns?

And none may see again the shimmering up of Avalon
Or know the fates of all the races man has cursed
Long gone are the ages of the alchemists
Blessed are those who keep the secrets of the earth
Lament the passing of the Auroch
And the slaying of the ancient wyrm
Would you dare to meet the gaze of the Basilisk
Or face the flames as the Phoenix burns?

08   March of the Lor (04:41)

09   Ebethron (05:35)

Black blades in their hands
Obey his every command
They search for that which was lost
Through realms of rime and of frost
Where no mortal may pass
Atop a dais of glass
Sits a scepter of light
A symbol of Titan's might

He comes from cities of darkness
To supper harlots and fools
Loneliness is his raiment
Solitude is his jewel
He's seen the valleys of solace
Beheld the spires of sleep
He's fed the fyres of the fallen
And heard their widows weep

We come from cities in darkness
To conquer cowards and fools
Loneliness is our payment
Solitude is our due
Walk through valleys of solace
Ascend the spires of sleep
Ignore the warnings of prophets
And for your children I'll weep

Skies blackened with crows
Shadows on winter's snows
Within a temple of ice
Priestesses perform the rites
Witness the setting of suns
The darkest days have begun
Let the seers come forth
At morning's light we ride north

Carico i commenti...  con calma