Hating on the haters is one of those hobbies musicians will never get sick of. With “Execrator” off its latest album, Apocryphon, Heavy Metal four-piece The Sword climbs into this increasingly packed clubhouse.   

It might surprise you to learn that there was a time when Metal was defined by thundering riffs, blistering solos, paint-peeling volume and a bottom end heavier than Pavarotti on Jupiter, exemplified by the likes of Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Budgie and their fist-pumping brethren. Rising up five years ago from their unlikely birthplace in Austin, Tex., The Sword sets the controls for the heart of the 1970s and churns out a soundtrack as dense and dark as a black hole and every bit as gravitationally compelling.