Age Of Winters - 20th Anniverary Edition
The Sword
Age of Winters is the debut studio album by Austin, Texas heavy metal band The Sword, originally released on February 14, 2006 through Kemado Records. Steeped in the "retro-metal" movement of the mid-2000s, the nine-track record draws heavily from the slow, crushing riff traditions of early Black Sabbath while weaving in a distinctly Southern groove and lyrics rooted in Norse mythology and Tolkien-esque fantasy imagery. AllMusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia awarded it 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling its "megalithic guitar work" the album's main attraction and placing The Sword alongside High on Fire and Witchcraft at the forefront of heritage metal's revival. PopMatters described it as "one fine, headbang-inducing beast of a debut record", and the Austin Chronicle praised it as both "literate" and "visceral."
The 20th Anniversary Edition, released on May 8, 2026 through Kemado Records, is a newly remastered version of the original album handled by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio, and expands the release to twelve tracks by appending three 2004 demo versions — "Celestial Crown/Barael's Blade," "Winter's Wolves," and "Iron Swan" — that offer a raw, earlier glimpse of the band's sound before the album was properly recorded. The vinyl pressing is limited to 4,000 copies on "Rime and Frost" color vinyl, housed in a deluxe spot-gloss jacket with a die-cut sticker of the band's logo, while the CD version comes in a gatefold wallet with an eight-panel fold-out lyric insert. The remaster has been well received by fans, with the general consensus being that the new audio treatment accents and amplifies what was already considered a landmark record in modern doom and stoner metal.
Age Of Winters - 20th Anniverary Edition
The Sword
Age of Winters is the debut studio album by Austin, Texas heavy metal band The Sword, originally released on February 14, 2006 through Kemado Records. Steeped in the "retro-metal" movement of the mid-2000s, the nine-track record draws heavily from the slow, crushing riff traditions of early Black Sabbath while weaving in a distinctly Southern groove and lyrics rooted in Norse mythology and Tolkien-esque fantasy imagery. AllMusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia awarded it 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling its "megalithic guitar work" the album's main attraction and placing The Sword alongside High on Fire and Witchcraft at the forefront of heritage metal's revival. PopMatters described it as "one fine, headbang-inducing beast of a debut record", and the Austin Chronicle praised it as both "literate" and "visceral."
The 20th Anniversary Edition, released on May 8, 2026 through Kemado Records, is a newly remastered version of the original album handled by Dan Coutant at Sun Room Audio, and expands the release to twelve tracks by appending three 2004 demo versions — "Celestial Crown/Barael's Blade," "Winter's Wolves," and "Iron Swan" — that offer a raw, earlier glimpse of the band's sound before the album was properly recorded. The vinyl pressing is limited to 4,000 copies on "Rime and Frost" color vinyl, housed in a deluxe spot-gloss jacket with a die-cut sticker of the band's logo, while the CD version comes in a gatefold wallet with an eight-panel fold-out lyric insert. The remaster has been well received by fans, with the general consensus being that the new audio treatment accents and amplifies what was already considered a landmark record in modern doom and stoner metal.