The sixth studio album from The Sword titled “Used Future” has come upon us in 2018 and given the huge departure in sound on their last release “High Country” in 2015, it should come as no surprise that this album continues that direction even further. It’s a new era for The Sword and fans have to accept that but that doesn’t mean the quality of the songwriting and the music has diminished in any way, far from it.
“High Country” was certainly a departure from the band in 2015, the result of a band that decided to move on from where they first started in that heavy stoner rock that was built around Black Sabbath inspired riffs for many years. It shook up a few fans but it made at least some of us appreciate the evolution of The Sword and never getting tired of the same old thing, an aspect that many bands suffer from after a few albums into their career. AC/DC may have made a career out of it but not for The Sword who took it upon themselves to reinvent themselves and explore not necessarily groundbreaking territory but certainly for themselves, a new sound that simply borrowed the other sides of their influences.
“Used Future” has a similar sound to it’s predecessor in it’s more classic tone, the guitars are again crystal clear with the bass and drums driving much of the rhythm sections. This time however it definitely feels more spacey in size, the landscapes are wider even though the songs are fairly short and concise and there’s much more happening musically outside of the guitars. While the album has a very classic rock feel from the 70’s with nods to Thin Lizzy, ZZ Top and Pink Floyd, there’s also a lot of synth sounds and keyboard work that gives it a weird blend of 60’s retro rock and 80’s new wave synth. It’s a whole new dynamic brought to the table and honestly, it works brilliantly here.
Interludes and instrumental pieces abound on this album, kicking off with the “Prelude” intro before bringing in the first track “Deadly Nightshade“. It has a great groove to it, a real 70’s beat to it with some nice bass solos intertwined around the chorus sections, we’re off to a good start! “Twilight Sunrise” kicks up the tempo a little with it’s catchy main riff locking your ears on it before the spacey psych sounds of “The Wild Sky” rolls through, an instrumental piece that flows all through out with wavey guitars and the occasional hard hitting moments used sparsely for dynamics. The synth driven “Intermezzo” breaks up the album midway before continuing on.
“Sea Of Green” is a Lynyrd Skynyrd inspired groover, bouncing along with lots of breathing space in between the musical notes that spread across this southern rock number. To completely contrast this song however is “Nocturne” which follows right after and it’s definitely going to be considered the most different song from The Sword yet. Another instrumental piece with strong 80’s synth melodies with piano backing drive this cinematic soundtrack, it leaves you with a weird but familiar nostalgic feeling and anything that gives you such an emotional response like that has got to be worth checking out. Certainly one of the highlights of the album.
The album continues to either sway with melody or simply rock out – “Don’t Get Too Comfortable” is bass heavy driving this cool little number, the title track “Used Future” is deceptive at the beginning with a short sci-fi intro leading to a Dire Straits type riff but ultimately ends up having more of a real classic rock swagger to it while “Come And Gone” is synth meets country meets space rock and “Book Of Thoth” has a nice fuzzy, warm feeling attached to it’s retro sound. The album does finish strong with yet another instrumental, the spaghetti western rocker “Brown Mountain“, which at this point really says a lot of about the musical conception of this album where it’s definitely all about the sounds and the vibe of the instrumentation more than anything.
Things come full circle with the outro piece to brings things to an end for what ultimately has been a great joy ride to listen to. Don’t write this album off if all you have heard is that there’s been a new change in sound for The Sword. While it may not necessarily be for those who did not get into “High Country” as “Used Future” definitely continues on those musical themes, to anyone else do yourselves a favour and get into this if you love all that spacey 70’s rock as this will definitely be your thing.
TRACKLIST
Prelude
Deadly Nightshade
Twilight Sunrise
The Wild Sky
Intermezzo
Sea Of Green
Nocturne
Don’t Get Too Comfortable
Used Future
Come And Gone
Book Of Thoth
Brown Mountain
Reprise
