High Country - The Sword

If you've been following my posts for the last couple of months, you'll know I've been desperately waiting for this album to come out. I talked about the title track in July but now it's time to look at the entire package.

Based on the small selection of songs I'd heard before buying the album, I was expecting something amazing. What I got was decent although, if I'm perfectly honest, a little flat at times. If the previous four albums by The Sword were solidified in the Heavy Metal genre, High Country definitely wobbles between that and Hard Rock. From the album cover abandoning the usual jagged font to the song's themes centred more around magic than mythology, The Sword haven taken their biggest genre-crossing step yet.
Album opener "Unicorn Farm" is a bizarre introduction combining a catchy rhythm with some of the synth elements previously employed in Apocryphon, flowing perfectly into "Empty Temples", the first of several Thin Lizzy impersonators on this album. It's a great track which gives you a glimpse into the sound of the rest of the album; the clashing drums and megaton power chords have been softened but every now and then, there's an explosive moment where you can hear remnants of Gods Of The Earth and Warp Riders bursting through.
The main factor behind the change in sound is possibly the percussion and Santiago Vela III's more restrained drumming this time around. There are still a couple of apocalyptic tracks where the pace is energetic and you can imagine riding into battle with these songs booming out in the distance ("Suffer No Fools" and "Buzzards"). Otherwise, the album is largely dominated by Blues-inspired Hard Rock not unlike a previously mentioned 70's Irish band ("The Bees Of Spring" and "Ghost Eye"), heavier Modern Rock tunes experimenting with backing vocals and a touch of brass ("Seriously Mysterious" and "Early Snow") & healthy combinations of the two, resulting in some of the strongest tracks on the album ("The Dreamthieves" and "High Country").

Sadly, the band is only as strong as their weakest link and whilst he's improved since 2008, J. D. Cronise's vocals are still flagging behind everyone else ever so slightly. It's almost like listening to a slightly more abrasive tribute to Josh Homme but fortunately, the music is good enough to stop The Sword from becoming another Guns 'N' Roses. Aside from a few songs which sound a bit monotonous in the fog of crunching chords ("Mist & Shadow"), the riffs are generally suitable and will easily stick with you after a couple of listens.
The best way to describe the genre (or subgenre) of this album would be Stoner Rock as I suspect most of the tracks were written to be listened to when absolutely baked. After all, the band have released a special "weed-themed" edition of High Country that comes with rolling paper and a stash box, not to mention the obvious euphoric connotation with the name of the album. It would make sense, considering the flatter songs would probably sound incredibly peaceful whilst stoned.
If you are into the occasional toke and happen to listen to this album whilst in high country yourself, you'd probably rate it 10/10. For all us sober critics, I reckon a 7/10 is more than fair. It's not the best album they've written if you're into heavier riffing & the kind of soundtrack Vikings would listen to if they were still about, but I would say it's quite an interesting yet admirable entry from their discography if you're into Rock music overall, assuming you can listen past the occasional musical dissonance and droning vocals.