10015 - THE SWORD - HIGH COUNTRY (2015)
THE SWORD
''HIGH COUNTRY''
AUGUST 21 2015
49:43
1 Unicorn Farm 00:49
2 Empty Temples 03:53
3 High Country 02:36
4 Tears Like Diamonds 03:45
5 Mist & Shadow 05:22
6 Agartha 02:23
7 Seriously Mysterious 02:42
8 Suffer No Fools 02:43
9 Early Snow 04:13
10 The Dreamthieves 03:55
11 Buzzards 04:10
12 Silver Petals 02:33
13 Ghost Eye 03:12
14 Turned to Dust 03:28
15 The Bees of Spring 03:54
J. D. Cronise – vocals, guitar
Kyle Shutt – guitar
Bryan Richie – bass, synthesizers, acoustic guitar (track 12)
Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III – drums, percussion
Jazz Mills – backing vocals (tracks 3, 7 and 10)
Mark Gonzales – trombone (track 9)
Gilbert Elorreagab – trumpet (track 9)
Josh Levy – baritone saxophone (track 9)
Kino Esparza – backing vocals (track 10)
ABOUT THE ALBUM/WIKIPEDIA
High Country is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band The Sword. Recorded at studios in Austin, Texas and Asheville, North Carolina with producer Adrian Quesada, it was released on August 21, 2015 by Razor & Tie. The album was mixed by J. Robbins, who had previously produced The Sword's 2012 fourth studio album Apocryphon. "High Country" was released as a single on July 20, 2015.
The Sword first hinted that work on their fifth album had begun in November 2014. It was later announced in February 2015 that recording for the follow-up to 2012's Apocryphon would begin on March 16, with the eventual release scheduled for the summer. Former Grupo Fantasma guitarist Adrian Quesada led production of the record, with J. Robbins (who produced Apocryphon) mixing the album. Most of the recording took place at Church House Studios in Austin, Texas, with additional recording at Austin's Level One Sound and High Country Atelier in Asheville, North Carolina; Robbins mixed the album at his own studio, Magpie Cage in Baltimore, Maryland, and it was mastered by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio in Cornwall, New York.
Prior to beginning the recording of the album, The Sword completed a four-show warm-up tour between March 11 and 14, 2015, with performances in New Orleans, Louisiana, Monroe, Louisiana, Memphis, Tennessee and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Upon the album's release, the group will begin the promotional High Country Tour, starting with a European leg running until September 19, followed by planned touring throughout the remainder of 2015, and 2016.
Leading up to the release of the album, The Sword periodically released tracks from High Country through a number of news websites and outlets: first was the title track "High Country", which was unveiled on the band's official website on July 1, 2015, the same day on which the album's track listing and cover artwork were announced, which was followed by "Empty Temples" by Rolling Stone on July 16, "Mist and Shadow" by High Times on July 29, "The Dreamthieves" by Vice magazine's Noisey website on August 6, and "Early Snow" by Kerrang! on August 10.
High Country was released on CD, vinyl and digital download, and was available in a number of pre-order bundles including items such as clothing, lithographs and other merchandise. One of the bundles made available for the album was described by Exclaim! magazine as a "weed-themed deluxe edition", featuring a "wooden 'stash box,' wood grain dugout, grinder card and rolling papers", all of which are known to be commonly used when smoking cannabis. Multiple retailer- and territory-exclusive coloured vinyls of the album will also be released.
Numerous music critics have suggested that High Country is much more of a hard rock than a heavy metal album, as opposed to some of the band's earlier releases which were often classified as doom metal. Axl Rosenberg of MetalSucks suggested that the album's title track marked a departure from the band's stylistic similarity with Black Sabbath, while Exclaim! writer Alex Hudson suggested it had a "melodic southern rock vibe". Rolling Stone magazine likened the sound of "Empty Temples" to that of seminal hard rock bands Thin Lizzy and ZZ Top.
Upon debuting the track "The Dreamthieves" in August 2015, Vice site Noisey proposed that "above all else [The Sword] is a rock band", offering further comparisons to Thin Lizzy and Led Zeppelin. Kyle Shutt summarised the release by suggesting that High Country features "everything from folk to pop to boogie to straight-up rock".
BIOGRAPHY/WIKIPEDIA
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