THE SWORD: New Album Title, Release Date Announced

Austin, Texas' THE SWORD has set "Warp Riders" as the title of their third album, due on August 24 via Kemado Records. The CD was recorded with producer Matt Bayles, who has previously worked with MASTODON, ISIS and MINUS THE BEAR, among others.

In a recent interview with Decibel magazine, THE SWORD guitarist/vocalist John "J. D." Cronise stated about the forthcoming effort, "This is what you'd technically call a 'concept album,' though I'd describe it as more of a soundtrack to a story I came up with. All the songs are about aspects of the story, but they don't cover every detail from beginning to end. It's a science fiction story, and it deals heavily with themes of light and dark and perceptions of time. One of the main settings is a planet, which has experienced tidal locking, creating a side of perpetual day and a side of perpetual night. The reason for creating a narrative to base the songs around was essentially to provide interesting and varied lyrical subject matter with a core theme to tie it all together."

Cronise previously told AOL's Noisecreep that the record will have a broader hard rock sound but stressed that the band's aim isn't to broaden its appeal outside of the heavy metal market. "If more people listen that's great, but we're not doing it for that reason," he said. "We are just more interested in expanding our sound for ourselves. If we wanted to expand our audience we should just remake the second album over again, rather than challenge people with something new."

THE SWORD's last album, "Gods of the Earth", was released on April 1, 2008 via Kemado Records.