Having been featured in several Guitar Hero games and toured with Metallica, it’s pretty safe to conclude that The Sword is a metal band well on the rise. This summer, the band will look to further the hype when it releases its third album, Warp Riders on Kemado Records.

The album, dropping August 24th, will be one of a long list of metal albums featuring science fiction-themed lyrics. For example, the album sports song titles such as “Acheron/Unearthing The Orb” and “(The Night Sky Cried) Tears of Fire”. Furthermore, a press release describes the storyline as a “psychedelic space opera that explores temporal themes of death and rebirth.” Epic concept albums are always fun, even when they suck, so we can’t really lose with this.

The Sword has reportedly dropped the “pure metal” sound that has defined them to date, mixing in a more general hard rock sound — which might scream sellout, but time will tell.

No word on supporting tour dates just yet, but the band is confirmed to appear at this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, set to take place between October 8th and 10th in Austin, Texas.