Funny how I have never been really into metal, and I was there, at the Wiltern theater on Friday night, in the middle of the set of The Sword, listening to one metal band after another, and enjoying the experience. The Sword? They were four almighty warriors, three of them facing the audience front stage, endlessly producing these heavy metal guitar riffs like a famous band of the 70s.
The Austin-based quartet had indeed a bottomless collection of sharp strident guitar riffs, playing these furious and destructive songs, which were going from hard rock to metal and vice-versa,… and I was thinking about some other element at times, with a brighter side just to compensate the doom side of metal.
During the whole set, the music was muscular and a little badass, as if they wanted to conquer and defy whatever power may be above. J.D. Cronise, on guitar, was singing with his early-Ozzy-Osbourne-style vocals, Bryan Richie, on bass, was a little out of my sight, Jimmy Vela, on drums, was replacing Trivett Wingo, their previous drummer who had a melt down during a tour, and Kyle Shutt on guitar, was constantly moving and waving his long blond hair.
They were good, furious and destructive, layering their fast guitars like they were riding some motorcycles, bringing a few doom rhythms here and there, but staying playful.
And that 70s feeling I was talking about? I felt it till the end, wondering all along if they were some kind of hybrid between metal and classic hard rock, like they were the ZZ Top of metal,… Cronise’s guitar shape must have been for something into this. Whatever, they were interesting to look at, especially guitarist Kyle Shutt, who, with his tall stature and long bleach blond hair was the perfect glam incarnation of the guitar hero.