"By The Sword is a logical, if unexpected, follow-up to Free Diamonds' debut There Should Be More Dancing. Where Dancing was the sound of a hyperactive party, this is the sound of the party mellowing out as the night goes on. While Free Diamonds haven't abandoned the complicated rhythms, incredible bass riffing and hyperactive vocals that are their trademark, songs like Hugs and Kisses more properly establish the tone of the album. It may be the most infectious song that Free Diamonds have ever written. Every song reveals something new about the band's sound. With By The Sword, Free Diamonds prove that they do not comprise a one-trick pony, and even though this album is definitely calmer than its predecessor, its difference is what makes it succeed. By The Sword doesn't try to repeat the sugar rush; it gathers the best parts of that sound and adds in new elements. It will make you dance because of the grooves, and that's totally awesome...just as awesome as There Should Be More Dancing. And that makes Free Diamonds really fantastic." - Independent Clauses

"Free Diamonds has more in common with the insanity of Blood Brothers and Q and Not U. With Scott Anderson's crazed delivery, Gemma Andrews' laconic drawl makes a big difference. There's some creativity being welded together on By The Sword in increasingly angular and confusing shapes. It absorbs punk energy in the scattergun vocals, drags folk guitars in to anchor it to Planet Earth and provides quirky indie-pop synths and metronomic drumming to drive everything on all four wheels. The oddness on these sixteen tracks is endearing and enjoyable. With flourishes of fast flurrying bass and guitar plus some clever twists and turns, Free Diamonds becomes more worth shouting about." - Subba-Cultcha

"Free Diamonds have been deemed 'pogo-punk' because they've got enough bounce in them to get any would-be head-banger interested. Therefore, By the Sword should tickle my fancy enough to recommend it above everything else this month, right? Absolutely. I would totally have dirty, dirty sex with tracks like Hugs and Kisses if it was possible. This band's charm is just so contagious. Paul Cosgrove's bass bubbles over every song's surface like the froth of a milkshake you can't help but take a sip of. Scott Anderson's vocal work gives the album that strangely unique kick to set Free Diamonds apart. The energetic vibe he radiates is just so undeniably fetching. Whether I was destined to come across Free Diamonds' By the Sword to quell my fear of dancing or to lighten up my summer, it has successfully managed to accomplish the latter. As for dancing, it may take a little bit longer to throw my self-conscious shit out the window, but Free Diamonds have certainly helped me reconsider such. Figures it'd be an English band to do so, because God knows I haven't heard such a wonderful dance-infused album come out of this stiff scene." - Absolutepunk

"Another dose of modern no-wave pop from these freakazoids. Much of the allure of By The Sword resides in the ultra-tight rhythm section. The percussion, bass and rhythm guitar keep the songs locked in, which is how you can sound tight and astoundingly loose at the same time. I think that might be the secret of why Free Diamonds appeal to dorks like me. Even the madness is calculated...and it works well enough to make me smile. Free Diamonds make little pretense to sophistication. These folks merely make music of the most maddening sort." - Aiding & Abetting

"Free Diamonds are back and bringing with them a briefcase full of wacky, spastic, dance punk blues. By The Sword has them sounding like part of a scene with The Mae Shi and Blood Brothers. It takes a bit of time to acclimate to the hyper fast helium twin vocals, but the music this time around is far less aggressive. Look for Cobracobana, a song with their trademark wackiness but firmly rooted in a real groovy song. These bright bursts of eccentricity are like little jolts of caffeine." - Culture Bunker

"Free Diamonds seems to revel in its hyperactivity and the 16 bite-sized tracks on By The Sword are like hit-and-run pop freakouts. That is to say, they rush by quickly but pack a lot of ideas into each one. This album might just answer the question, 'What if the Minutemen had grown up on pop radio?' The Woodentops and Violent Femmes both put feverish beats and acoustic/electric instrumentation into the service of ostensible pop songs. Free Diamonds does so as well on such numbers as Jealous Panther, Hey Annalise and Flamingo! but they amphetamize everything they touch. Free Diamonds plays with a freedom in arrangements and instrumentation that's refreshing. They're having fun, and it shows, but it's never sloppy or too precious. By The Sword is a good time all the way around." - Delusions of Adequacy

"British trio Free Diamonds sounds like a folksy, tamer version of The Fratellis if they were influenced more by rockabilly and Bob Dylan records. Nonetheless, By The Sword is an very, very good album kicked off with the quirky but catchy Backpack Escape Plan that sounds like Violent Femmes fronted by Tiny Tim. Meanwhile, Hugs and Kisses is a tight, blazing piece of pop that shines throughout, as is the hellishly fun, gear-changing Flamingo!. Short, crisp and sweet are the ideas that Free Diamonds brings to many of these nuggets, especially the melodic Midnight Rainbow. Although difficult to pick one highlight, What's With the Yes? might be the winner here. Things settle down somewhat with Tumbling Tumbling Down but pick up again with To Russia with Love and the angular Teen Magic. Oh and one can't forget the cheery Jealous Panther where they sing about dancing at your funeral with glee." - Pop Matters

"When I saw the new Free Diamonds album had arrived in my mailbox I was seriously looking forward to checking it out. Boy, I was not let down. Their sound has matured on By The Sword and they've changed just a little, but it's still Free Diamonds. They seem to have added more musical styles to their already eclectic mix of which they can surely call their own. Herky-jerky, start-stop, jangly postpunk meets fast-paced power-pop. Think The Vapors having a jam session with The Homosexuals. Or Medium Medium getting beat up by The Blood Brothers. By The Sword is over an half-hour of catchy, hook-filled tunes with a dual vocal, pseudo-rap attack with pop sensibilities and a new wave flair. This will make it big with the music-nerd crowd, the postpunk aficionados and maybe even the dance floor whores." - Feast of Hate and Fear

"By The Sword is disjointed, intriguing and strangely danceable. Free Diamonds sounds like if Mindless Self Indulgence had grown up in some backwater town in Middle America. It harbors the same hyperactivity and mischievous nature as MSI, just against an odd backdrop of bluegrass, folk and punk. And, just like MSI, I find my muscles involuntarily twitching in some sort of unwilling effort get my head bobbing. It's some sort of serendipitous combination of harmonica, acoustic guitar and Scott Anderson's impish vocals. No doubt these guys could get anyone to the dance floor at a live show." - Wonkavision

"Free Diamonds sound unlike anything else made by young men armed with guitars at the moment. By The Sword offers up some nice moments of herky jerky post-punk-pop. Sixteen short, sharp songs whiz by in thirty fun-filled minutes. The band's main weapon is their big heart. There is no too cool for school attitude to be found in these grooves. The Wire-esque Flamingo begins tautly before letting loose, bobbing and weaving its way straight to your heart with a cheeky grin and a twinkle in its eye. The melancholic ode to getting older Midnight Rainbow shuffles along a bouncy bass line while a scratchy guitar conjures up a melody. Elsewhere the band mix and match genres, including folk, pop-punk and twee indie-pop with a certain spastic skill. For those seeking something a little different then the Free Diamonds might just be of interest. - New Noise

"To say that By The Sword takes chances is to say that the demand for the 7th Harry Potter book is sorta high. Free Diamonds sound to have snorted espresso, chased it with vodka shots and ran into the studio in the dark to experiment with knobs, pedals and effects buttons... ya know, but catchy. They make artistic free-form dance funk that could fit into the dance clubs and the punk dives. Without the polish of Tapes 'n' Tapes or the screaming frenzy of XBXRX, Free Diamonds reside somewhere in between these two bands. Twitchy vocals, unexplainable sound combinations, songs like Teen Magic and Hugs & Kisses are just too interesting to dismiss." - Ink19

"Free Diamonds is a three-piece post-punk-spazzcore-pop band that sounds like an exact mix of The Blood Brothers, The Minutemen and The Libertines. By The Sword is 16 tracks of crazed chaos with underground art show written all over it. Each track seems to take a different direction, a different approach and then end up somewhere else on the music spectrum every time. However, this intense variation does tend to get a little off the wall and make the listening experience a trip, to say the least." - Punkbands