was the band's first to chart outside of the US and UK, reaching number 74 on the Australian Albums Chart and number 91 on the German Albums Chart. It reached number 30 on the US Billboard 200. In April 2016, the band released a cover of Son House's "John the Revelator" for Record Store Day. In September, a collection of acoustic recordings of High Country songs was released as Low Country. The following May saw the release of the group's first live album, Greetings From..., recorded during late 2016 on tour with Opeth. 2017–2022: Used Future, hiatus and split The Sword began recording its sixth studio album Used Future in October 2017, working in Portland, Oregon with producer Tucker Martine. "Deadly Nightshade" was released as the lead single from the album on January 26, 2018, followed by "Twilight Sunrise" the following month. The album was released on March 23, 2018, and reached number 104 on the Billboard 200 – the lowest position for a studio release in the band's career since Age of Winters failed to chart. On September 6, 2018, the band announced via Facebook that they would be going on hiatus, cancelling a subsequent Australian tour. In February 2020, funk metal band Primus announced a tour in tribute to progressive rock band Rush, which featured the Sword alongside Wolfmother and Battles as support. On October 20, 2022, John D. Cronise announced the band was splitting up after 19 years. Musical style, influences and lyrical themes The Sword has been categorised as doom metal and identified as an example of the 'classic metal' movement of stoner rock artists influenced by early metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Blue Cheer. With the release of Warp Riders, members of the band acknowledged that fans with a more "narrow-minded" view of heavy metal may feel alienated by stylistic changes. Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic described the band on Age of Winters as being "at the forefront of … the 'heritage' or 'retro metal' movement," comparing their style to that of heavy metal veterans Black Sabbath and vocalist Cronise to Ozzy Osbourne. Rolling Stone has also likened the band to Sabbath. While every member of the band contributes to the musical compositions, Cronise is the primary writer of the band's lyrics. He often uses Norse mythology as a topic in his lyrics, notably in the song "Freya", but cites literature as