One of Austin’s finest metal acts, The Sword builds on the promise of their debut Age of Winters with its sophomore effort Gods of the Earth. GOTE begins softly enough with the intro to “The Sundering,” but before one can have any misgivings, a crunching riff takes over and ignites what’s to come for the next 45 minutes. Sure, there are requisite song titles like “Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephyrians” and suitable lyrics such as “The gates of the keeps are all closing / And the broken men wander the roads / the farmers have fled to the forests / burning their fields as they go” (“Lords”) -- necessary tidbits that complete the Sword experience, but the heart of the content is in the thunderous rock, insistent riffs, and raw energy. The Sword is scheduled to open for Metallica in Europe come July but not before a set at the Bonnaroo Music + Arts Festival in June. The band kicked off its current U.S. tour earlier this month. A must for fans of Black Sabbath and even later metal giants like Megadeth and Iron Maiden, GOTE is a full throttle assault on the listener’s ears with inventive, dueling guitars; distant howls of “greater mysteries” and “the faery queen’s armies”; and a general atmosphere of sludgy heaviness....