The Sword at 12 Galaxies, 2/21/2006:
Age of Winters, One Week Old
If you somehow made it this far without The Sword, start here.
Austin, Texas. Formed 2003. J.D. Cronise (vocals/guitar), Kyle Shutt (guitar), Bryan Richie (bass), Trivett Wingo (drums). First show June 19, 2003 at Beerland. Sabbath low end, Sleep weight, fantasy-and-blade lyrics without apology — doom metal that still swings. After SXSW 2005 they signed to New York’s Kemado Records. Debut: Age of Winters, February 14, 2006, produced by Cronise in Austin. “Freya.” “Iron Swan.” “Winter’s Wolves.” The record that put them on the map. Later that year a cover of “Freya” landed in Guitar Hero II. Gods of the Earth followed in April 2008. Then the jump: opening for Metallica across Europe and on the Death Magnetic arena run that fall.
This post is not about the arenas. It’s about a room that already happened.
February 21, 2006. 12 Galaxies, Mission Street, San Francisco — a mid-2000s live room that closed for good in August 2008. Seven days after Age of Winters hit. Priestess on the bill. Fan camera, angle #2.
The set: “Winter’s Wolves.” “Freya.” “Sea of Spears” (still walking around under its early title, “My Whips,” two years before it landed on Gods of the Earth). “Iron Swan.” “Ebethron.” “Barael’s Blade.” Five of six off the brand-new debut. No polish. No later sci-fi concept records. Just the first blade, still sharp.
Watch it — the full set. ⚡
Fan-shot from the 12 Galaxies floor (uploaded by the KILLTHATCATofficial channel). Not an official band video. Better. Sweat, room noise, Austin metal eating a San Francisco floor one week into the catalog.
The arc since, short: Warp Riders (2010), Wingo out, Jimmy Vela in; Apocryphon (2012); High Country (2015); Used Future (2018). Hiatus. Split announced in 2022. Then the return — Levitation, Austin, November 3, 2024 — and back for good in 2025. This May, a 20th-anniversary remaster of Age of Winters. Right now they’re on the road co-headlining with Corrosion of Conformity through November 19, Hippie Death Cult opening. No new studio album announced yet.
Cue the 12 Galaxies tape. Argue in the threads: “Freya” or “Iron Swan” as the killer cut, and whether that Mission room beats every arena that came after. Don’t be polite about it.
FILE UNDER: The Sword, Age of Winters, Sleep, Black Sabbath, Austin heavy. When you want the receipts on this lineage — StonerRock.com has been logging the heavy underground since 1999. The receipts are in the Archive →