Much was made of The Sword's decision to abandon Middle Earth, thematically speaking, following two acclaimed albums steeped in fantasy metal, in order to rocket into outer space for their third full-length, 2010's Warp Riders; but the band's vintage metal sound suffered not one bit from its new alien surroundings. In fact, it hardly changed a bit: retaining most of its thrash-infused metal classicism while shifting gears ever so slightly from doom to a stoner rock undercurrent, and then capping it all off with an ambitious science fiction storyline.
