The Sword Pick Their Favourite Tracks From Their Career So Far

Texan doom-mongers The Sword have been unleashing their apocalyptic vision onto the world for almost 15 years. Since their inception in 2006 with their headbanging debut Age Of Winters, the riff-roaring foursome have crafted six albums from their own primordial ooze, drawing on a multitude of literary influences that span fantasy, sci-fi and dystopia. But with a half-dozen LPs under their utility belts, The Sword are releasing two collections for fans to immerse themselves in – one greatest hits compilation and a boxset of rarities/oddities.

But for the newcomer to The Sword, or even those who worship at their stone altar, we asked vocalist John D. Cronise and bassist Bryan Richie to choose their favourite tracks from across the two new career-spanning compilations. Crank these up loud and watch out your neck doesn't dislocate.

John D. Cronise (vocals/guitar): “Barael’s Blade is the first song I remember writing specifically for The Sword. There was no band yet, but by that point I had decided on the general direction I wanted to go. I would end up incorporating some older riffs into songs later on, but I consider Barael’s Blade to be the first The Sword song and, in many ways, the quintessential The Sword song."

John: "Despite most people assuming that all the songs on [2006 debut album] Age Of Winters were inspired by mythology and popular fantasy, the title of this song is in reference to my favourite science-fiction novel, Dune. In it the Horned Goddess is a name for the Great Mother deity or the feminine aspect of space itself. Even though we were an all-male metal band called The Sword, I always tried to make sure the subject matter never got too testosterone-heavy."

Bryan Richie (bass/synthesiser): "I always saw this track somehow existing in the same universe as the video for Tom Petty's You Got Lucky – so much so that the synths at the beginning are my little homage to the way the Petty video starts. In a strange twist of fate, he passed away the day we recorded the song and I think the weight of it focused us like a destructive laser beam. Everyone is blazing trails of molten lava on this track; the playing is top-notch and I couldn't be more proud of how this one sounds. Tucker Martine's production paints with precision."

John: "The lyrics are written from the perspective of future inhabitants of the Earth after a global catastrophe – in this case, nuclear annihilation – which would become a recurring theme in our work. As far as I’m concerned, that’s about as literally as the term 'doom metal' can be interpreted. To me it’s not an aesthetic. It’s not about overly down-tuned guitars played through overly loud amps and songs that are too slow and too long; it’s supposed to be a warning about the end of civilisation as we know it!"

Bryan: "When you do an album the record label always wants bonus tracks, so our plan was to record a couple of the [2015 album] High Country tracks acoustically during the bonus time we were going to have at the studio. Of course, there was no bonus time, so once we were done I took the stems over to Jimmy's [Vela, drummer] house and we recorded new music over JD's existing vocals. I thought this track in particular sounded like it could be at the end of a Sons Of Anarchy episode. It became such an emotive, pensive track."

John: "Although I don’t know if we saw it this way at the time, this was our first attempt at a straight-up rock song, and I think it’s one of our best. I once read that Tony Iommi said he never got tired of playing Paranoid, even though he played it at every show, and for me this is that song of ours. It’s fun to play, it’s easy to play, and it’s just a damn good song. Some people assume the lyrics were inspired by George R.R. Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire, since a similar phrase appears in the books and there is another song on [2008's Gods Of The Earth] that clearly references them – To Take The Black – but this is not the case. Just good old-fashioned witchcraft!"

Bryan: "Like the fanfare to a great intergalactic battle, this opening combo blasts out of your speakers and flips all the tables in your room. It dramatically set the tone of the album Warp Riders and any show when we played it live – it's completely, undeniably awesome. My bias is heavy, but it's the truth. I love how thrashy it is, how tight it is, yet has no shortage of groove. I'm not going to mince words – we were on fucking fire when we recorded this album. We were like Luke Skywalker turning off the targeting computer and just going for it. Everyone's playing is exceptional and Matt Bayles' production is next level."

John: "A lot of my lyrics are inspired by books and their authors, and none more so than those for this song. Jack Vance is known for his acrobatic and deeply literate use of the English language, which I did my best to emulate lyrically. To toot my own horn for a moment, I think our lyrics are one of the things that set us apart from a lot of other bands. How many other heavy metal bands do you know of who use words like 'moulder' 'manses' and 'saturnine'? Or who write songs about Jack Vance novels, for that matter?"

Bryan: "The day that we recorded this song I had brought my slow cooker up to the studio to make chicken tacos for a late lunch. And like any halfway respectable late lunch in Austin, Texas, it included an army of margaritas made up by our guitarist and resident mixologist, Kyle Shutt. We gorged on those tacos, I probably put down a half dozen. I was painfully full and consumed way too many of Kyle's 'ritas, so much so that I actually have very little recollection of recording the parts to Early Snow. I love how my bass sounds on this song, that's a dimed Verellen Meatsmoke."

John: "This is perhaps my favourite and what I would consider my best literary lyrical homage. It's inspired by the late great Philip K. Dick, specifically his semi-autobiographical novel Valis. When we began recording that album, the title track was an instrumental because I had basically run out of ideas for epic, doomy, psychedelic heavy metal lyrics. I felt that the song would be better with vocals than without, but I didn’t know what to write about. I was reading Valis at the time, and the night before we were set to start recording vocals, I finished it and wrote the lyrics to Apocryphon. Even though I didn’t see one, I’d like to think that a pink beam of light transmitted them to me."

The Sword's new compilations Chronology: 2006-2018 and Conquest Of Kingdoms are out now.

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