LORDS “Swords”
The three-headed music monster from Louisville, Kentucky has been extremely active of late, doling out new releases this year from LORDS, COLISEUM, and BLACK CROSS. If you’re a fan of grimy, noisy, guitar-driven punk rock, that’s definitely a good thing. Swords is the second full-length from LORDS, who previously released The House That Lords Built on the now-defunct Initial Records. This disc is a step-up in every way, roasting you with 13 songs in exactly 20 minutes of music. LORDS’ specialty is dipping the audio chaos of early BLACK FLAG with stubborn, stifling, southern rock. The hook is that these guys play nearly every track at an unfathomable speed (and yet, it’s nothing close to ‘grind’), which makes for a virtual heap of charred riffs and decimated drum heads. Both LORDS and contemporary EVERY TIME I DIE are drinking from the same well in terms of their southern rock/metal influences, but LORDS’ is doing it with the relentless force of an F5 tornado, leaving little chance for reprieve. Most of the songs on Swords feel like they’ve been melted together by the sheer heat from the guitars, but track eleven, “Beauty Sleep,” does manage to stand out with its slightly more conventional beat(ing). LORDS isn’t asking you to help sing-a-long, and they probably couldn’t care less if you wanted to be friends with them on myspace, but if you tell them that Swords induced internal bleeding, they’ll probably say something like “thanks.”
Jade Tree
