July 27, 2012 – There's no rest for the heavy. When Austin metalheads the Sword left the stage at Metallica's Orion Music + More Festival in Atlantic City at the end of June, they headed straight to Magpie Cage Studios in Baltimore to record their fourth album, Apocryphon, due out this fall on Razor and Tie. Since setting foot in the studio, the band has been working 12-hour days, six days a week. "I think today is the 30th day [in the studio], so we've got about another week to go of mixing and then packing up and going home," says guitarist Kyle Shutt. "Being stuck in Baltimore for five weeks kind of lit a fire under us." No offense, Charm City. On 2010's Warp Riders, a sci-fi-influenced concept album, lyricist and vocalist JD Cronise told the story of space archer Ereth — a synopsis can be found under "Lore" on the band's website.

July 13, 2012 – On his second full-length