by JOHNSON CUMMINS

With the success of metal bands like Lamb of God and Mastodon paving their way into the mainstream, Austin’s the Sword could be considered the next band to slither up from the underground. Possessing a ’70s sound associated with bands like Sleep, Pentagram and Sabbath, the Sword prove to be hardly your garden-variety metal band. Being on the label Kemado, whom Swedish psychedelic band Dungen and indie darlings Elefant also call home, as well as boasting album artwork done by …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead’s Conrad Keely, the Sword remove themselves from the cramped confines of the metal world that so rarely comes up for air.

“I guess we’re a heavy metal band in the same sense that Led Zeppelin was considered a heavy metal band when they put out ‘The Immigrant Song,’” says drummer Trivett Wingo. That’s for sure—after even one listen, the Sword’s debut record Age of Winters makes it pretty clear that they definitely like to get the Led out on occasion. Although Bonzo’s beats and Page’s riffs prove to be elusive, the Sword’s lyrics on songs like “Lament of the Aurochs” and “March of the Lor” dust off the JRR Tolkien/Ayn Rand lyrical fodder so prevalent in the ’70s, while tales of Odin and Valhalla seem almost ripped from Percy’s fantasy songbook.

“We just like songs like Zeppelin’s ‘Achilles’s Last Stand,’ ‘The Immigrant Song’ or ‘No Quarter.’ I think that kind of drama is really lacking in music today. In those songs, there is a story being told, and the words really embellish the music. I think that’s pretty integral.”

Fantasy-based lyrics aren’t really the best bait for a fickle media hell-bent on being ahead of the curve, but when their stunning debut was released, the Sword proved that the pen is at least as mighty as their namesake weapon, with absolute raves in mainstream fishwrap like Spin, Jane, Alternative Press, Magnet, Billboard and more.

“Initially, it might’ve been a little bit overwhelming, but we’ve just been so focused on playing our music that we’ve never really had a lot of time to ever ponder that stuff. We find it amusing, but we really don’t give it much credence because, for everything that is written in a flattering light, there’s something written that is just completely inaccurate.”

Wingo admits that he is hardly a card-carrying metalhead, and much prefers proto-metal bands over the current crop of metalcore. Perhaps it’s these influences that make the Sword so refreshing, by completely skirting the typical underground metal scene of the early ’90s that many metal bands cite as their starting point.

“Straight up, metal is just not sexy, and rock ’n’ roll has an undercurrent that is really sexual and sensual. You need to have that groove, and I think that’s what is missing in metal and a lot of other genres—feeling and groove. When you have a lady over, are you going to put on Al Green or some emo-core band? I still don’t know who likes listening to screaming and mathematical drum beats. It’s just not pleasing to the human ear.”

With In Flames, Lacuna Coil and Seemless at Metropolis on Monday, Dec. 11, 7 p.m., $34.50, all ages

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