The Sword

from Wikipedia:

The Sword is an American heavy metal band that formed in Austin, Texas, in 2003. Since its inception the band has comprised vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt and bassist Bryan Richie, and since October 2011 has included drummer Santiago "Jimmy" Vela. Signed to New York-based independent label Kemado Records, the group released debut album Age of Winters in 2006, which was largely written by Cronise prior to the band's formation. The band's second album, Gods of the Earth, was released two years later and gave the group its first Billboard 200 chart entry. Warp Riders, a concept album centered on an original science fiction narrative, was released in August 2010.

History

Early years and debut album (2003–2007)

After writing and recording music on his own for "a few years", singer and guitarist J. D. Cronise formed The Sword in 2003 with guitarist Kyle Shutt and drummer Trivett Wingo; bassist Bryan Richie joined later in 2004. Cronise and Wingo had been in a band called Ultimate Dragons, based in Richmond, Virginia, while Shutt and Richie had been performing in Texas bands "united by a love of Led Zeppelin" Cronise had also performed with a local band called Those Peabodys, but left as he felt he "needed to do something heavier." After their first live performance together on March 18, 2004, the band released an eponymous demo, The Sword, which was followed the next year by an extended play (EP) entitled Freya. After performing at the 2005 South by Southwest festival, the band was signed by New York-based record label Kemado Records;

The Sword released its debut album Age of Winters in February 2006, much of the material for which had been written by Cronise before the band's formation. In support of the album, the band toured in 2006 and 2007 with Early Man, Priestess, Lacuna Coil and Trivium in the United States; Nebula and Clutch in Europe; and Lamb of God in Japan. In June 2007 they contributed a new song, "Under the Boughs" (which was later included on their second album), to the Kemado compilation Invaders. "Freya" was later released as a single in September 2007.

Gods of the Earth and mainstream recognition (2007–2009)

In November the song "Freya" was covered and featured as a playable track on the video game Guitar Hero II. The group released a split EP with Swedish doom metal band Witchcraft; The Sword's contribution included a new track, "Sea of Spears", as well as a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". Gods of the Earth was the band's second album, released on April 1, 2008. The album, much more of a collaborative writing effort than its predecessor, provided the band with its first Billboard 200 albums chart entry, reaching number 102. In support of the album the band completed the Gods of the Earth Tour, supported by bands including Machine Head, Lamb of God and Clutch. The quartet also supported heavy metal veterans Metallica on their 2008 European Vacation Tour in July, and returned as the opening act on a number of legs on their World Magnetic Tour, which continued through the opening months of 2009 until May.

A two-disc box set containing Age of Winters and Gods of the Earth was released on November 25, and the song "The Black River", from Gods of the Earth, was included on the video game Guitar Hero: Metallica, released in North America on March 29, 2009. The band's music was also featured in the 2009 films Jennifer's Body ("Celestial Crown") and Horsemen ("Maiden, Mother & Crone"). In March 2009 The Sword won two local music awards: the High Times Doobie Award and the Austin Music Award for Best Metal Artist.

Warp Riders and change in direction (2009–present)

The Sword spent much of 2009 writing a third album, which took the form of "a concept album centered around an original science fiction narrative" and had more of a hard rock sound than the band's previous releases. Some of the new songs were debuted at the 2009 Fun Fun Fun Fest in November and played on "a short regional tour showcasing the new songs", which comprised seven shows in seven cities between January 23 and 29. Recording for the third album began in Austin at Wire Recording in February 2010. Matt Bayles was hired to produce and engineer the album – a first for the band, as Cronise and Richie had respectively produced and engineered both Age of Winters and Gods of the Earth. Recording of the album, titled Warp Riders, was completed by April.

In May the band contributed to a split EP for the second time, covering Thin Lizzy's "Cold Sweat" for a Volcom Entertainment "Vinyl Club" release with Year Long Disaster, who covered The Sword's own track "Maiden, Mother & Crone". In July, Warp Riders lead single "Tres Brujas" was released as a digital download, and a live EP entitled iTunes Festival: London 2010 (recorded at the iTunes Festival in London on July 3) was also released as an iTunes-exclusive download. A week after the album's August 24 release, Warp Riders surpassed the commercial performance of Gods of the Earth when it debuted at number 47 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling almost 9,000 copies in the first week of its release. The band supported Metallica again on a series of September tour dates in Australia, New Zealand and Japan as a warm-up for its own Warp Riders Tour, which began the following month.

Lineup change and future plans

Five shows into the opening North American leg, The Sword was forced to postpone the entire Warp Riders Tour due to the departure of drummer Trivett Wingo. Wingo commented that he felt "physically and emotionally unable to continue on as part of [the band]", and later revealed that he had predicted that he would leave the band for "probably a couple of years", justifying his decision by explaining that "my level of anxiety pertaining to being on tour got to the point where medication was not the answer." Upon Wingo's departure from The Sword, the band said in a statement:

The band enlisted the services of local musician Kevin Fender to perform with Cronise, Shutt and Richie as a temporary touring member of The Sword. The second single from Warp Riders, "(The Night the Sky Cried) Tears of Fire", was released as a limited edition picture disc at the beginning of November backed with new B-side "Farstar", and later in the month the video for "Lawless Lands" – part two of the Warp Riders trilogy – was published online. A number of European dates were rescheduled for May 2011, and the third and final Warp Riders music video "Night City" was released in March. Between June and August, the band returned to tour North America.

In October 2011, Kevin Fender was replaced with drummer Santiago "Jimmy" Vela.

Style, songwriting and influence

While commonly labelled as a doom metal band, The Sword has also been identified as an example of the 'retro metal' movement of stoner rock artists influenced by early metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Blue Cheer. In addition to Sabbath, to whom the band is commonly compared, artists such as Sleep, Melvins and Slayer have been cited as influences by members of the band. With the release of Warp Riders, members of the band acknowledged that fans with a more "narrow-minded" view of heavy metal may feel alienated by stylistic changes. Eduardo Rivadavia of allmusic describes the band as being "at the forefront of … the 'heritage' or 'retro metal' movement," comparing their style to that of heavy metal veterans Black Sabbath and vocalist Cronise to Ozzy Osbourne. Rolling Stone also likens the band to Sabbath, as does AbsolutePunk.net in its review of Gods of the Earth, claiming that "It's impossible not to compare [the album] to the works of Black Sabbath."

While every member of the band contributes to the musical compositions, Cronise is the primary writer of the band's lyrics. He often uses Norse mythology as a topic in his lyrics, notably in the song "Freya", but cites literature as his main influence, identifying such authors as George R. R. Martin, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft and Arthur C. Clarke as inspirations. On Warp Riders, Cronise was again credited for writing all the lyrics, and only guitarist Kyle Shutt was added to the credits for the musical compositions.

The band has cited Black Sabbath as a major influence, in addition to doom trio Sleep, sludge band the Melvins, thrash veterans Slayer, and heavy metal icons Iron Maiden and Deep Purple, among others. The band's guitarists, in discussions of their musical influences, have identified 'classic' metal guitar players such as James Hetfield of Metallica, Pantera's Dimebag Darrell and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, and Cronise has also described Billy Gibbons (of ZZ Top) as a "huge influence." In an interview with entertainment newspaper The A.V. Club, Cronise also revealed that local metal band HRM, rock musician Bob Seger and R&B singer Michael Jackson have been influences on The Sword's sound.