HW: Black Sword era

[John Majka]

I agree regarding the Black Sword/Live Chronicles era.  I think there were
some great songs in there, but the way the band was beginning to lean toward
heavy metal was an evil omen, in my book.  I wished they could be
more....weird....psychedelic....tribal.... But just look at the band photos
from the time period, where people are wearing black leather pants etc.  And
probably "Song of the Swords" is the most metal moment the band ever
reached... the shrill metal vocals are more than I can usually stand...  I
think in some ways Black Sword / Live Chronicles was a high point because
the band were in a productive mode and actually producing tons of new SONGS
(as opposed to the doodles that tend to pass for songs, on some albums), but
it was also a low point in terms of real psychedelia and creativity...
John Majka
jmajka2 at home.com

> Doug Bates opined: (regarding Chronicles)
> >>For me this was their Spinal Tap period, cheesy 80's metal without the
> big hair, a bad dream indeed.
>
> Also pretty harsh, but pretty accurate I'm afraid.  A few good songs here
&
> there but this was a bleak bleak time for HW (imho), what happened to the
> anarchic spirit? Inspiration replaced by stagnation and a shockingly
> conformist sound by the least conformist band ever.  Not meaning to
> offend/annoy fans of this time period, as we all have our preferences,
this
> just wasn't my favorite time period.
>
> John Stanton