Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A#

On first listen, Montreal collective Godspeed You Black Emporer sounds familiar, like sonic-landscape architects the Dirty Three. But pay closer attention to this debut full-length and you'll find something much more compelling: G.Y.B.E. mix found sounds, voices, lilting string sections, and musique concrète into structures that tell a story. With each listen, a new plot twist is unraveled, a new movie sample identified--you start to listen closely with headphones to pick up new subtleties you couldn't hear previously. Three tracks, a bit over an hour, of great music that defies categorization.



Tracklist:
1. The Dead Flag Blues
2. East Hastings
3. Providence

Link: F#A#

Cosmic Vishnu

What's up? I just recieved this video on my youtube account, from a friend from Texas. This a portuguese band, with some "pretty" Doom stuff, waiting for the release:



Check out their myspace: www.myspace.com/cosmicvishnu

Note: It seems they've changed their name to Aspen. Still the same band..

the Sword - Gods of the Earth

Strap on your armour and ready your weapons; it is time to do battle with the forces of evil, and The Sword’s second album Gods Of The Earth will be our call to arms.
Oh yes, make no mistake - The Sword’s much anticipated sophomore album is a tailor-made soundtrack to a night in front of World Of Warcraft, or round at a friend’s house with the latest edition of Dungeons and Dragons and an eighth of dodgy homegrown.
Gods Of The Earth is hair grown as long as your school rules will permit; Gods Of The Earth is sleeveless denim jackets with Sabbath patches; Gods Of The Earth is all the best and most endearing clichés of horror-fantasy heavy metal.

Hailing from Texas, the influence of the Southern metal sound is as inevitable as it is inescapable in The Sword’s music. But they’ve exchanged the tough-guy “don’t tread on me” aggression of their neighbours for glorious schlocky overstatement and an all-consuming worship of the Riff.



Tracklist:
1. The Sundering
2. The Frost-Giant's Daughter
3. How Heavy This Axe
4. Lords
5. Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians
6. To Take the Black
7. Maiden, Mother & Crone
8. Under the Boughs
9. The Black River
10. The White Sea

Link: Gods of the Earth

the Sword - Live at Roadburn ('07)

It sounds like "...a bunch of bison being pushed over a cliff."



Tracklist:
1. The Frost-Giant's Daughter
2. the Horned Goddess
3. Lords
4. Barael's Blade
5. the Black River
6. Freya
7. Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings (ZZ Top cover) / Winter's Wolves

Link: Live at Roadburn

Note: The sound quality is just awesome: 9/10!

the Sword - Live at Buffalo ('07)

If you know these guys, you know what you should expect.. so a massive review by me, would just bore you. If you like the heavyness, if you like the riffs, you will just enjoy this concert. With an excellent set list, choosing songs from both albums, and than you've the good thing of live shows, you can really feel their souls while they play.



Tracklist:
1. The Frost - Giant's Daughter
2. Barael's Blade
3. The Horned Goddess
4. The Sundering
5. Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians
6. Freya
7. Maiden, Mother & Crone
8. To Take The Black
9. Iron Swan
10. The White Sea
11. Winter's Wolves

Link: Live at Buffalo

the Sword - 12" split w/ Witchcraft

This is the split, it contains one of the best songs by Sword: "Sea of Spears", and a (obvious) cover, of a Led Zeppelin's song, wanna guess? The viking theme: "Immigrant Song", picture the brutal drum machine of this song, with two more heavy guitars and you've got your self the conquerors of the North!
Witchcraft plays some really cool songs too, but we'll get intouch with them later.



Tracklist:
1. Sea of Spears (the Sword)
2. Immigrant Song (the Sword)
3. You Bury Your Head
4. Queen of Bees
5. Sorrow Evoker

Link: 12" split Sword/Witchcraft

the Sword - Age of Winters

I love heavy music, but when you hear something that might strike up some interest and then the singer starts screaming his guts out, it's a complete turn off. What ever happened to good, hard, stripped down metal riffs and vocals. Finally a band that actually gets it. I heard The Sword a few months ago on a comcast music channel and immediatly went out and bought the cd. It's been stuck in my cd player ever since. Last night I drove 3 hours to see them live and it was worth every mile. Alot of people have complained about the vocals on this album, but for me this was one of the selling points. I'd love to cram the mic down the throat of some of these idiots that do nothing but scream through every song. To me that takes alot away from the music. Heres a frontman who dosnt try to overshadow the instruments with an annoying singing voice. Sure, they sound like Sabbath, but I'm in my 20s and thank god somebody from my generation wants to bring some Sabbath-type metal to modern times. Dont forget, this band released this album two years before their formation, and this is their first album, they're not rich, so to all of you leaving reviews complanining about recording and sound quality, maybe you should stick with bands that have been out for a while. Support The Sword and bring heavy music back to where it should be.



Tracklist:
1. Celestial Crown
2. Barael's Blade
3. Freya
4. Winter's Wolves
5. The Horned Goddess
6. Iron Swan
7. Lament for the Auroch
8. March of the Lor
9. Ebethron

Link: Age of Winters

Note: Highly adviced, my favourite album in about ten years..