New York is known as a sacred institution for heavy music. Shaped by ideals surrounding everyday life’s trials and tribulations with an honest desperation and urgency, metal and hardcore have been as much about attitude as about the music. Ushering in a new age of crossover, paved by acts such as Anthrax, Agnostic Front and other New York vets, you can now add Sworn Enemy to the list of bands forming a caustic hybridization of thrashy, intense metal with the thud, and grit of hardcore.
Formed in Queens, NY in late 1997, it didn’t take long for the music world to take notice of Sworn Enemy’s crushing sound and delivery. While the hardcore underground boiled with excitement over the band, Sworn Enemy recorded their debut EP, Negative Outlook, for Stillborn Records, the label of Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed), in 2001. With overwhelming positive reactions from fans and critics alike, the EP pushed Sworn Enemy to the frontlines of proud New York hardcore/metal acts. During this time, the band acquired the bass skills of Mike Couls of Detriot hardcore band Cold As Life, sharpening the band’s impact into the most hardworking and intense band around. With this incarnation of Sworn Enemy, they toured relentlessly with acts such as God Forbid, Hatebreed, Unearth, D.R.I., American Nightmare and many more.
As the band’s popularity grew, they signed to Elektra Records in early 2003 and released their debut full-length, As Real As It Gets; a lesson in brutal metal/hardcore crossover. The band earned a coveted spot on Ozzfest 2003, and continued to tour in support of the record. Parting ways with Elektra, but undeterred in their quest for delivering no frills, metallic hardcore, the band re-solidified their line-up with Ed Kilpatrick on bass to replace Mike Couls (who went on to join Agents Of Man) and Jamin Hunt on guitar. Now more dedicated than ever, the band have signed to Abacus Recordings and are prepared to drop their sophomore record, The Beginning Of The End, like a battering ram of violence.
Produced by Tim Lambesis (frontman for As I Lay Dying), engineered by Steve Russell and mixed by Zeus (The Red Chord, Shadows Fall), The Beginning Of The End pulverizes even the most calloused listener. Recorded at Big Fish studios in San Diego, CA, during June 2005, the new record takes the hostility and conviction of the band to a new level of destruction.
The band’s mission is simple, “To set the tone for the new age of metal,” says vocalist/frontman Sal Enemy. “This record signifies a new chapter for us as a band, a new style of music.” Revolving around topics of politics, religion and everyday life, the new album showcases the band in their element, delivering heavy-hitting music with themes anyone can relate to. Forget what you think you know about Sworn Enemy- they’re pushing their personal metallic assault way into the red without any care or regard to the current metalcore scene. “We don’t follow any trends. We do it from the heart.”
