Artist: Lords
Album: Swords
Label: Jade Tree
Tracks: 13
Length: 20:00
Review By: Jacob Gehman

I was shocked (SHOCKED!) that this CD was only 20 minutes long. It feels a lot longer than that. This is unfortunately because it is really hard to listen to the entire CD in one sitting. Well, that and every song flows into one another without pause and sounds like one big, long track because every song sound exactly the same.

This is a shame because Lords has the technical chops to be very good. They kind of remind me of a more straightforward Dillinger Escape Plan with some Training For Utopia and Warlord (the old Solid State band) elements, only unlike the afore mentioned artists, Lords has that Jade Tree punk rock feel to them. The songs feel chaotic, but in a very neutral way. It feels like they wanted everything to be unexpected so that everything just blends together and becomes ignorable.

The best part of this release is the presentation of the packaging. The pseudo-rhyme/alliteration interplay between the band name and CD title is fantastic. That, combined with the mock warlords-as-playing-card-characters artwork makes this an aesthetically pleasing product.

Unfortunately, Jade Tree considers a 13 track, 20 minute long CD to be a full length and not an EP, so you’ll be paying the full $16 (new) for it. Even if you’re into that style of music, this is probably not the greatest of choices to indulge in. If you want to bother with it, pick it up used somewhere.