Customer Ratings & Reviews

This next installment from The Sword is a bit of a departure from their traditional sound. It's a little more hard psych/hard rock than metal. Upon hearing the title track prior to the album release, i was kinda thrown off because it sounded really odd to me. After listening to the whole album though, I started to really love it. I love when bands can successfully try new things and make them work within their sound. This one's got some synth sounds and overall minimalist production, and more overdrive on the guitars than distortion. But it still rocks and has some cool, groovy, vibe-y type of stuff here and there. Great album for fans, but maybe not a starting point for a new listener. Heavy metal purist elitists will probably hate this album, but i personally love it.

I love the riffyness of this record, which is kinda what I expected from this band. The tunes are fun. The record's got a nice sort of vintage sound to it, which should please old fans, but I almost would be curious to hear if they could've better blended these classic sounding fuzz sounds and such with some more modern elements. (Although, I wouldn't want to wreck it; I've heard plenty of artists try to update and TOTALLY lose their sound.) My only real complaint with the album is that it feels more like a handful of tunes than a well-structured album. Ordering didn't seem to be intentional, especially with kind of strange beginning and closing tracks. The odd intro got my attention, but it didn't really develop on those oddities. So I just was left puzzled. The ending track in particular just didn't feel very final. The record ended, and I was like, "oh, that was the last track."

The Sword are a perfect example of a band that won't be painted into a corner or pigeonholed. The Sword have gone from a doom/stoner metal sound on "Age of Winters" (2006) and "Gods of the Earth" (2008) to a more streamlined/stripped back hard rock sound. With 'High Country" (2015) expect the unexpected, as the band channels in the likes of 70's venerable rockers like that of Thin Lizzy, ZZ Top and Foghat. These changes could be heard as early as the "Warp Riders" (2010) album and probably were a big part of their last effort on "Apocryphon", which I don't have and admittedly haven't listened to. I will rectify that soon, since I love the musical journey this band has taken the listener on. "High Country" is an album that contains 15 tracks. That's normally a little long for my tastes, but since it clocks in barely over 50 minutes, it doesn't feel laborious to get through. In other words, it's not "Book of Souls". The ebb and flow of this album seems to keep my attention, as I'm finding out that I like the musical unpredictability of bands. What I didn't allow for in my 20's, I sort of yearn for in my 40's. The nice thing about this album, I don't find myself skipping any tracks, even though I find two of the instrumentals in that of "Unicorn Farm" and "Silver Petals" to be beyond odd. The track that seems to be drawing the most interest is "Early Snow", and that has more to do with a horn section that pops up near the end. Being a fan of both early "Chicago" along with "Earth, Wind & Fire", I laugh at the ire it's drawn in some closed minded circles. I'm not saying the song is one of the better tunes, but it's not as bad as some make it out to be. Though I stated earlier that I don't have a problem making my way through this album, I tend to enjoy the latter half of the album, starting with the great instrumental "Suffer No Fools". My favorite track is "The Dreamthieves", followed by "Ghost Eye". "Turned to "Dust" is a track that gets better and better with each listen. It has an abrupt ending akin to Sabbath's "Hole In the Sky", which makes me wonder if it was one of the last songs to make it on the album, as it sounds incomplete. It's too early to say where this might rank among The Sword's discography, but I'm liking it more with each listen. My favorite albums these days are those which "don't" blow me away initially. They are the albums that I think about dismissing, only to realize their true greatness. This album just needs a listener with an open mind. 4 1/4 - 4 1/2 stars...

This a good album but not as heavy as there previous albums. This album is more ZZ Top meets Thin Lizzy than the Black Sabbath sound on the last few albums.

I've read a lot of bad reviews about this cd and I understand why some people are upset. It's not as rockin' as the older sword cd's, but it's not as bad as everyone says. Do I like it as much as previous albums? No, but there's still some good tunes on it. If you're looking for the old sound you should pass on this album, but if you don't mind a tamer hard rock sound you'll probably find something to like on the album.

This one isn't quite as good as Apocryfon that was a bit better musically but still a Rockin album!! Great value for the price!!

Southern slow burner with great riffs from arguably one of the most underrated bands around. Crank and be amazed.

Decent effort from Sword. Not their best album, but still grooving. Keeping doom metal alive.

I ordered this release based on past experience with this band, and I have to admit, I was a bit under-whelmed by this CD. I really like The Sword's earlier releases but this one treads more into the "stoner/shoe gaze" territory. Again, it's not bad, but it's also not great. I keep listening a few more times and see if it grows on me.

In an attempt to write music THEY like, they may have abandoned some fans here, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Good music to just sit back and chill to. The Sword explores classic rock and stoner rock, mixing the two with their signature riff heavy sound. Awesome record. Better listen than Apocryphyon and Warp Riders, for sure.

Looking at High Country versus their Age of Winters debut? This is a huge change for The Sword. But not so much from their retro metal Sabbath sound of Apocryphon. High Country is a lot more psychdelia and rock. Maybe a little ZZ Top, Sabbath, and Uriah Heep sound. Different, but I still love it.

Husband wanted this music. I bought it, he liked it

The best effort by The Sword to date.. Excellent album from start to finish and one of the best of 2015! No true rock 'n' roll fan should be without this album.. These guys put on a stellar live performance, too!

Not The Sword that fans are used to, but it's starting to grow on me a little. It's a much different sounding album that their past releases...

If you are a fan of The Sword, then you will like this album. Different than their old stuff, but still very good!

Good metal! Great to blast in the car! Energizing and motivating music. Fantastic!

I have all of the Sword cds and lps and they are great. A MUST HAVE!

The new Sword album will not disappoint! This is a unique album!

The Sword always put out a good album from start to finish

This release shows a great level of experimentation from the group. While certainly not as consistently "heavy" as previous albums, this album still manages to rock out while showing maturity and depth.