Hear the Sword's Dizzying Japanese Rarity "Daughter of Dawn" | Revolver

Hear the Sword's Dizzying Japanese Rarity "Daughter of Dawn"

Frontman J.D. Cronise: "Honestly, it's one of my favorite things we've ever recorded"

Fifteen years into a heralded career that has seen them win famous fans in Metallica's Lars Ulrich and Lamb of God's Mark Morton, among others, progressive doom rockers the Sword are gearing up to release two seriously massive career-spanning collections, Chronology 2006 - 2018 and Conquest of Kingdoms, that showcase the Texan band's sonic scope and power. Among the compilations' many highlights are a riff-heavy cover of KISS' "She," and the dizzy rarity "Daughter of Dawn," for which the band has teamed with Revolver to give a wide premiere. Previously released exclusively on the Japanese version of the group's Warped Riders LP, the song "serves as the epilogue to the Warp Riders story and was originally intended as the final track on the album," according to the liner notes to the compilations. "It was instead included as a bonus track on the Japanese release of the album." Blast it above.

"I'm very glad to have ["Daughter of Dawn"] included on Chronology and Conquest of Kingdoms because I felt that it never really got its due," the Sword vocalist-guitarist J.D. Cronise tells us. "Everyone's playing is impeccable, and Matt Bayles really outdid himself on the production. It was a little outside of our comfort zone at the time, but I think it turned out great and was actually pretty prescient with regards to how our sound would evolve. Honestly, it's one of my favorite things we've ever recorded."

Conquest of Kingdoms offers 30 tracks, including 16 previously unreleased cuts, and is housed in a triple-gatefold package, including B-sides, oddities and live recordings of fan favorites like "Freya," "Iron Swan" and "Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians," as well as cover versions of "Immigrant Song" (Led Zeppelin), "Nasty Dogs and Funky Kings" (ZZ Top), "Forever My Queen" (Pentagram) and more. A truncated digital version will also be available. In addition to the standard vinyl release, a limited-edition color variant (1,000 pressings worldwide) will also be available exclusively via TheSwordOfficial.com as well as independent retailers.

Chronology 2006–2018 is a three-disc CD compendium, which — in addition to the aforementioned rarities — includes the Sword's greatest hits and fan favorites across 52 tracks (12 previously unreleased). The set also features expansive new liner notes with contributions from the band, plus the aforementioned Ulrich and Morton, as well as Clutch's Fallon.

Both Chronology 2006 - 2018 and Conquest of Kingdoms will be released on June 19th.