Kemado

Sporting a science fiction theme about a distant plant at war with itself, fighting the forces of good and evil, Warp Riders sounds like some long lost ‘70s concept album. But Austin, Texas’ metal maestros The Sword make it work in a contemporary fashion by emphasizing the modern prog structure behind the hard rock to deliver an engaging mythological work. There is a consistency of purpose from the opening salvo on “Acheron/Unearthing the Orb,” to the album’s ominous coda, “(The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire.” It’s the story of forbidden knowledge on “The Chronomancer,” split up into twin halves and stretched out, which giving substance to a tale from future’s past that holds up in the metal present.