The Sword - Academy 2 - 27th March 2008

Had my reservations before this gig due to there being 3 support bands. Invasion weren't here tonight so the evening was started off by..

Black Cobra from San Francisco. Two piece band, guitarist and drummer. Guitar was distorted so wildly and loudly that the vocals, and for most of the set the drums, couldn't be heard clearly. Drummer appeared to be pounding the kit mercilessly and was using one of the thickest pair of sticks I've seen yet you could only just hear him. Vocals were to a minimum and screamed, with no song introductions I have no idea what they played. Only way of describing their sound is White Stripes meets stoner with Hendrix style distortion. Good musicians but the sludgy sound destroyed everything they were trying to achieve. Need a few more solid riffs and hooks too.

Saviours hail from Oakland. The rock media seems to be championing them at the moment, I am baffled why. Saw them last year at the Wulfrun and was distinctly underwhelmed, they weren't any better tonight. Sound they got was again shocking, vocals too low and overall way too quiet. Mix a lot of different influences, however some of the riffs were very close to plagiarism; "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas being one and then there were the Thin Lizzy-inspired folk/ rock sections. Ordinary and quite frankly boring.

And so Austin's favourite sons were left to salvage the evening. Engineers managed to get them a much better sound but again very quiet. Started the set with "Winter's Wolves" and then alternated their material between "Age Of Winters" and the forthcoming "Gods Of The Earth" (shame about the delayed release date). Played "The Horned Goddess", "Barael's Blade" and "Iron Swan" off the debut with a great deal of authority. Much more polished than on their support slot with Nebula and certainly much less raw. Of the newer material "Black River" and "Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephrians" worked well. Other new material was aired but can't remember their titles; in general the newer songs seem to have a bit more diversity than those on the debut. Now for the main whinge. Set lasted 40 minutes! Promoting their second album they manage 40 minutes?? Two encores followed, a cover of Faith No More's "Surprise! You're Dead" which worked surprisingly well (no pun intended) with "Freya" rounding things off. What they played they did well, still can't get over how short the set was, just under 50 minutes including encores. Their set supporting Nebula was nearly as long and they have more material now, so completely mystifying.

A very disappointing evening. Sound was nothing short of shocking for the first two bands, although don't think complete clarity could have improved Saviours. What the Sword played was excellent, just nowhere near enough of it. Hopefully they will tour again soon, when we've had a chance to listen to the new material, and play a decent length set.