Page 38 - the Noise December 2017

ICE SWORD - pure glacial force
The buccaneers of Flagstaff’s Ice Sword | COURTESY PHOTO
Northern Arizona’s favorite metals sons assemble their kin and kith for a blazing showdown at Firecreek Coffee on New Year’s Eve. Formed in Flagstaff, 2014, Ice Sword are five bat- tle-scarred fantasy metal maniacs, technically proficient and stubbornly defiant in their quest. It’s dark but inviting. They will slay you with their brilliance — but don’t be scared! With a beer or three inside you (it’s New Years Eve after all!), you’ll be down the front shaking you head (or whatever hair you may or may not be blessed with), with the rest of us. Bev Napalm posed the following questions.
1) Your music is highly stylized and unique. It is a curious mix of medieval mayhem and ex- treme shredding. What was the original inspiration for Ice Sword?
Long ago we were all wanderers, displaced, unknown; seeking of some glorious reason, of meaning in the world, and then we heard it ... The Ice Sword, inaudible, beckoned each one of us from our respective realms; a siren’s song, eerily thrusting us forward, ever closer to the fates uncontrolled ... Five intrepid travelers crossing the frozen wasteland, paths con- verging and wills colliding, we discovered the frozen blade: from the glacial face we liber- ated it ... And it’s tale to us, it sang ...
2) Was your musical progression organic or did you have a fully formed image from the start?
Organic? Fully formed? Hahaha! Only the blade knows its own tale, we are merely listen- ers, watchers, a conduit through which the sword speaks its riddles. Through fevered hal- lucinations, we struggle ever closer, to not only the secret of its legends, but the ability to wield its transcendental power ...
3) The image is clearly an important factor as part of the Ice Sword package. How has your image influenced the music, or vice versa?
Hailing from such estranged worlds, our images were reflective of our pasts; our battles, our defeats, our victories ... The image is merely one’s own perception, music is the power through which we express it ... Our image is that which the Ice Sword determines it to be ...
4) How is the metal scene in the Southwest? Do you have bands you consider your current contemporaries?
The metal world of the Southwest is a powerful one: many strongholds litter the barren landscapes; all acolytes and masters fight honorably in its name ... As per our contempo- raries: the battle-hardened warriors of Stormbringer are brethren of this frigid mountainous realm and it is alongside them we often march to battle ...
5) Your performances are visually and audibly impressive. What can anyone who has not wit- nessed Ice Sword before expect this New Year’s Eve?
Camaraderie, heart, power, high-fantasy, love, earth, wind, fire, water, steel, and glory ... And perhaps even, a new song ...
Well met friend, and thank you for the interview! May the world smile upon you!
Be sure to pop in a check out Ice Sword in between waiting for the Pinecone drop! You’ll be sure to receive a rousing and festive reception.
38 • DECEMBER 2017 | the NOISE arts & news | www.thenoise.us