When J.D. Cronise -- guitarist and singer for Austin, Texas, sludge squad the Sword -- formed the band two years ago, he did some research on the name first. He found it hard to believe that no one else had taken the moniker yet, one he says he thought "would be badass." But that's when things started getting tricky.

"There's another band called Sword from our old stomping grounds of Richmond, Virginia, and we're cool with them," he explained, adding that there are other bands who have also chosen the name without the "the." There was also a Canadian metal band called Sword that was founded by brothers Mick and Dan Hughes during the 1980s; their last album was released in 1988 through Roadrunner Records.

Cronise admitted that "We've got a little opposition from some people" over the use of the name, "and we're trying to work it out." He said there's been no legal action filed yet, but the Sword are hoping "it doesn't come to that." And in his opinion, it shouldn't. "It's just silly, really," he explained. "There's not a band called the Sword."

But possible litigation's the least of the Sword's worries -- they've got to make sure their self-titled, self-produced debut disc surfaces on February 14 as planned. The band's label, Kemado -- which signed the Sword after Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton floated the four-piece's demo its way -- has pushed the album back a few times, Cronise said. The LP will contain nine tracks, including "Celestial Crown," "Freya," "Iron Swan," "March of the Lor" and "Ebethron." The Sword are hoping there won't be any more setbacks, because they're anxious to hit the road; the band, whose sound's reminiscent of early Clutch crossed with Mastodon, has no definitive touring plans yet. The Sword have logged miles with ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.

Cronise said the Sword -- which also includes guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie and drummer Trivett Wingo -- were not inspired by Mastodon, but admits the two bands have a similar style.

"As far as the writing of the songs on this record, I hadn't really listened to them much at that point, and I think maybe even as they were getting bigger, I made a conscious effort to not listen to them for a while, because I knew what I was trying to do was kind of along the same lines as what they were trying to do," he explained. "So I didn't want to hear too many of their riffs. I didn't want them sneaking into our album. What I'm trying to do with our music is not to make it palatable or poppy, but to make it listenable. It still tries to be aggressive and heavy and huge-sounding and, like, an experience to listen to, but not something where it's like, you can only take so much before you have to turn it off because it's all screaming or all blast beats. We all of course look back to the glory days when there were awesome bands on majors."

The rest of the week's metal news:

Trivium, In Flames and Devildriver will be hitting the road together in late January for a full U.S. tour. No dates, cities or venues have been confirmed just yet, but the trek is expected to run through the end of February. ... Relapse isn't done with Mastodon yet. The label plans to issue an album's worth of unreleased material from the band, which has been working on what will be its Warner Bros. debut. Call of the Mastodon, which hits stores February 7, will feature nine tracks recorded during the band's first studio sessions. A DVD, called "The Workhorse Chronicles," will be released on February 21; according to the label, it will provide "a firsthand account of the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into making this mammoth band," and boast behind-the-scenes content, interviews and live footage. ... The Black Dahlia Murder are two members short this week: drummer Zach Gibson and bassist David Lock have been shown the door because "they couldn't actually play our material," according to a band statement. "It was sad to have to make such a decision with Dave, since he's been with us for quite some time. Zach, however, was a much easier call to make. He simply didn't care that he played subpar, and we decided that we could definitely not let someone who doesn't even care about the band to continue. We're sorry to all of you who are bummed, but we promise a much better Black Dahlia Murder to come." Gibson, who has rejoined Gutrot, posted a message of his own on Gutrot's MySpace page. "I was quitting anyways and they knew it," he wrote. "They just wanted to save face and beat me to the punch. [The band] is nothing without me. They were nothing until I joined. Had I not joined last year when I did, they never would've continued, and even if they did, half the sh-- they did with me in the band would've never happened." ...

Ex-Spineshankers Tommy Decker, Mike Sarkisyan and Robert Garcia are back in the game with a new, as-yet-untitled project with singer Brandon Espinoza. Decker announced the formation of the band in a post on Spineshank's message board this week. ... God Forbid need warm bodies to serve as extras in the video for "To the Fallen Hero," which they plan to shoot on November 5 at Westlake High School in Westlake Village, California. Shane Drake (Trivium, Between the Buried and Me) has signed on to direct. Interested? Be there at 11 a.m. on the dot; you must be in an orange or blue shirt and bring an all-black outfit for the set change. ... Drummer Dom Lizzio is no longer a member of Bodies in the Gears of the Apparatus (he's pursuing non-musical endeavors), meaning the band's in dire need of a replacement drummer. Applicants must be able to "hold a blast beat and thrash a bit, but not be a standard death-metal drummer." Oh, and it would help if you live, or want to live, in Florida. ... Masacre drummer Victor Gallego died on October 30 of unknown causes. He had joined the Colombian death metallers in 1992 and contributed to three of the band's full-lengths: 1995's Sacro, 2001's Muerte Verdadera Muerte and 2004's Total Death. ... Voivod, whose guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour died in August, will release four new albums that feature Piggy, confirms the band's label. The first disc will feature the songs Voivod were working on at the time of Piggy's death and will be finished in December, mixed in January and released next year. Piggy recorded all of his parts for the record on his laptop with ProTools. While working with that material, drummer Michel "Away" Langevin discovered another three albums' worth of finished songs that the surviving bandmembers will work with over the coming years. ...

Danish melodic thrash band the Arcane Order, which features Raunchy singer Kasper Thomsen and Invocator guitarist Flemming C. Lund, are hard at work on songs for their debut album. In spring 2006 the group will enter Hansen Studios in Ribe, Denmark, to record the album with producer Jacob Hansen. Demos of "Breathe the Poison" and "The Sanity Insane" can be heard at MySpace.com/thearcaneorder. ... Judas Priest will release the live DVD "Rising in the East" November 15. The two-hour disc was recorded in May at the Budokan in Tokyo at the second of two sold-out shows. In addition to classics like "Living After Midnight," "You've Got Another Thing Comin' " and "Painkiller," the band played "Hellrider," "Worth Fighting For" and "Revolution" from their 2005 album, Angel of Retribution. ... Norwegian black-metal band Green Carnation will release their unplugged album, The Acoustic Verses, January 24. The disc will feature all-new material, including "The Burden Is Mine ... Alone," "Maybe" and "Childs Play Part III." ... Finland death-metal patriots Impaled Nazarene are finishing up writing their ninth album, Pro Patria Finlandia. Over the next few weeks the band will enter the studio with Tapio Pennanen to record the disc, which is tentatively scheduled for release on March 28, 2006. Tracks will likely include "Cancer," "KUT" "and "Contempt." The band's last studio album was All That You Fear, which came out in 2003. ...

Syracuse, New York, punk-metal band Ed Gein will tour with Lords starting November 3 in Rochester. Dates run through December 18 in Ogden, Utah. Ed Gein's second album, Judas Goats and Dieseleaters, was released Tuesday. Lords' debut, Swords, came out August 9. ... Chi-Town death-metal act Fleshgrind are no more, calling it quits after 13 years. "We feel this is the best time to move on," reads a statement from the band. "Before our last show about a month ago, singer Rich Lipscomb formally stepped down from the position. Instead of contemplating replacing Rich with another singer, the remaining three members [guitarist Steve Murray, bassist James Genenz and drummer Jesse Kehoe] have decided to move on in a new project." ... Horricane will issue The Lynch-Lawyers November 28 through Black Mark. The album will feature demo versions of "Coup De Grace," "Fraction in Your Eyes" and "Nitro Boost Turmoil," in addition to a number of new cuts. ... Norwegian metal outfit the Deviant have signed with Tabu Recordings and plan to release their debut disc, Ravenous Deathworship, February 13. ... Skitsystem will issue Stigmata, featuring what frontman Tomas Lindberg (formerly of At the Gates and the Crown) describes as "15 new blasts of raging punk," toward the end of January. ... Daylight Dies' forthcoming disc, Dismantling Devotion, will surface early next year through new label home Candlelight Records. Look for the disc to include "A Life Less Lived," "Solitary Refinement" and "A Dream Resigned."