Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Sworn Enemy
Label: Century Media
Release: 2006
Rating: 4.5/5
Clearly, the first decade of the second millennium of the human era is the decade of bands mixing thrash metal with hardcore tricks. And here come Sworn Enemy from New York, full of that kind of insight and outlook, with a second studio album that’s brimming with rage!
The debut “As Real As It Gets” (2003) had its roots buried deep in hardcore, so the transition looked like anything but a sure thing. Besides pulling off the makeover, Sworn Enemy serve up some seriously witty moments on the new record that sound fresh and inspired. They rattle dangerously venomously right from the opener Forgotten, then with Save Your Breath and No Second Chances, which are the album’s highlights. In the transitions and the guitar solo spots there’s definitely some “hardcore mosh” hidden away too, tastefully woven into the thrash form of the new songs. It gives the album extra edge, and that makes the messages it carries feel more real. Compared to the debut, the guys have also polished their group vocals. Where on the debut they were used more for mass chanting in a street-gang style, this time the backing choir roars get a lot more attention. Now they mostly wrap around the main vocal line, whereas on the debut they were often the main vocal. The band has grown, both in writing the material and in playing it, which means the chemistry between the members in the studio has grown even more and hit a new level of quality.
With their stylistic rebirth, Sworn Enemy managed to pour all that eruptive anger and rage into the album, so it literally bursts at the seams with red-hot “thrasher” neighing across its entire running time. An album loaded with energy and force, bloodily settling scores with the politics of the Western system! The riffing is so convincing that even the untouchable Slayer wouldn’t be ashamed of it.
The four-piece delivers a technically flawless sound, the scorching liveliness of sharpened “thrashy” peaks, and the possessed edge of aggressively spat-out vocals that, through all the rabid barking, keep a tiny, truly fleeting scrap of melody, so there’s no fear the listener might run into some superfluous metal rapping! The “shredding” is tuned to a T, the band’s sound is aggressive, attacking and alive, the bass guitar grinds metallically, and the depth of its line is solid and thick. With all the directness and arrogance and short, punchy brevity, Sworn Enemy also pull off extremely short solo guitar bits that prove these guys simply know how to play. The solos don’t weaken the impact, they only lift the dynamics of raw aggression across the record.
As said! Sworn Enemy are one of the few lucky ones for whom this bold move away from the typical “hardcore” expression the band carried on the debut “As Real As It Gets” (2003) fully paid off. In terms of blending the two genres, Sworn Enemy have practically driven their new album in a fully “thrasher” direction and added elements of “hardcore” as makeup, where before it was exactly the other way round. “The Beginning Of The End” is a happy example of Sworn Enemy’s successful metamorphosis and really marks the start of a new era for the band. It’ll be interesting to see where they steer things next. They’ve definitely found completely new inspiration and drive in the new musical direction offered by “The Beginning Of The End”, which is a nice launchpad for the band’s growth in the future. “The Beginning Of The End” is a dangerously furious album from start to finish that will swallow you alive. Wimps, steer well clear. With it, Sworn Enemy prove they know how to hit where it hurts the most!
Line-up
Sal LoCoco – vocals
Lorenzo Antonucci – guitar
Jamin Hunt – bass
Paul Antignani – drums
Production
Tim Lambesis
Track list
1. Forgotten
2. Scared of the Unknown
3. The Beginning of the End
4. Save Your Breath
5. Absorb the Lies
6. All I Have
7. We Hate
8. No Second Chances
9. After the Fall
10. Here Today
11. Weight of the World
Album length: 49:09
