The Sword released their album Age Of Winters in 2006, which featured their signature song "Freya." The song would go on to be featured in Guitar Hero II later that same year, meaning it wasn't just some minor underground hit.
Then in 2010, Rob Zombie released his Hellbilly Deluxe 2 record featuring the "Virgin Witch." Playing the two back to back will reveal some pretty hefty similarities, namely the key riff at the start of "Freya" and the riff right after the intro to "Virgin Witch." Turns out fans weren't the only ones that felt that way.
The Sword guitarist and vocalist John D. Cronise took to Twitter yesterday to retweet a list of the best Rob Zombie songs, captioning his retweet "Not sure how to feel about this, but I also wasn't sure how to feel when he ripped off our song…"
Naturally this provoked fans to ask some questions, at which point Cronise revealed that he was eventually given a co-writer status on "Virgin Witch" alongside Zombie and John 5 due to being a little too similar to The Sword's "Freya."
"It was a shock to us when it came out," wrote Cronise about the 2010 Rob Zombie track. "Our management at the time sucked and the best they could do was get me a co-writer credit. I've never met Rob Zombie or John 5." When asked by another fan if he had any hand in writing "Virgin Witch," Cronise responded "No but I'm credited as a co-writer because it sounds so much like 'Freya'. It's weird."
Listen to both songs below for comparison. It'll be pretty obvious what riff Cronise is talking about. While Rob Zombie is moving along with his original guitarist Mike Riggs now that John 5 is in Mötley Crüe, The Sword sadly called it quits in 2022.
