Crediting forebears,The Sword plays old-school 'hipster metal'

LITTLE ROCK — The Sword, one of Metallica's two opening acts Saturday, hasn't been around long enough to perform a retrospective of its work.

However, the 5-year-old band does have a bit of the retro going on.

The four-member Austin, Texas, band is said to fall into a nebulous subgenre of heavy metal dubbed "hipster metal" because its aggressive style and heavy riffs are reminiscent of early metal bands. The band is often likened to Black Sabbath and singer J.D. Cronise to Ozzy Osborne.

There are some similarities, though any resemblance of style needn't be taken too far, says drummer Trivett Wingo.

"I think there are some comparisons that can be made, but I think all rock and metal bands have some ties to Black Sabbath because they were so hugely inspirational," he said in an interview from Omaha, Neb.

"So, yeah, we do take some of our inspiration from Black Sabbath, at least at some point and some form, but I think that's very common. So many bands are informed by that style of music." On the tour, the band is promoting its second album, Gods of the Earth, whose song lyrics also harken to metal progenitors, primarily those belonging to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, because of themes linked to fantasy, history and mythology. Then there are the couplets, such as this from "Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians": In time you shall see/Endless death and misery/Invoke myth and prophecy/All you know shall cease to be.

The lyrics "aren't really ambiguous at all," Wingo says. "The themes of the band tend to be either ancient historical or fantastical or something of that sort." Cronise, who writes all the lyrics and vocal melodies, often draws inspiration from writers of fantasy, horror and science fiction such as H.P. Lovecraft and George R.R. Martin.

Aspiring rock musicians may wonder how a little band from Austin came to tour with metal behemoth Metallica. Wingo explains it simply, giving credit to Metallica's drummer: "Lars Ulrich is a big Sword fan.

I guess someone turned him on to The Sword, and he came and saw us a few times, and he decided he wanted us to open his tour." Also appearing Saturday is off-and-on supergroup Down, composed of members and former members of Pantera, Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar and Eyehategod. The band's most recent album is Down III: Over the Under, which Rolling Stone called a "main contender" for hard rock album of 2007.

Weekend, Pages 67 on 11/21/2008