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Sworn Enemy > The Beginning of the End > Reviews
Sworn Enemy - The Beginning of the End

You Suck Part II - 20%

The_Boss, May 26th, 2008

So I had the misfortune of seeing this band open for Dying Fetus and Origin recently and that was the very first time I have ever left my spot on the rail up close and gone to the back of the venue for ANY show ever. I always stay up front whenever I go to a show no matter who’s opening, well this was a first. They are quite possibly THE most generic and stereotypical metalcore band you can find, there are some melodic death metal elements thrown in mainly with the vocals. I can’t really find much ‘hardcore’ influence as they originally started as a hardcore band, you’d think they would retain some of that but in this case I can’t even find much. Sworn Enemy have taken the generic route of being another Lamb of God type metalcore with some of that post thrash definition bullshit, as well as trying to come across as an Arch Enemy throw off. I swear, at times I can hear a very big Arch Enemy influence, with Sal Lococo trying his best strained growl mimicking Angela but at the same time having an extremely weak range, even the lead guitar has some melodic solos that are reminiscent of Amott bringing in a lot of melody.

Anyway, this could be somewhat legitimate because there seems to be some sort of underlying potential, for example if the drummer were to throw out rest of the band, hire some legitimate guitarists (who played more than metalcore riffs and breakdowns every song), a singer who actually growled decently, and a bassist who would show himself. As of now, Sworn Enemy seem to want to be a melodic death metal band, but still fall back into the tasteless metalcore range with the most generic sound ever. This is pure sound of metalcore, being average in the way that nothing is memorable, it’s just heavy for the sake of being heavy, growling ferociously for that very sake, as well as trying to have some flashy melodic guitar parts for that very sake to make themselves more legitimate; and nothing works here for them. I mentioned they had some potential, well I say keep up the in a more melodic death direction they might have something, instead of throwing those br00tal breakdowns EVERYWHERE, and actually writing memorable riffs (because I seriously can’t find one anywhere), and having song structures that vary from the generic follow up of what a metalcore song would be like but adding more melodic parts.

I strongly warn you to stay away from Sworn Enemy, unless you like metalcore, because this is basically as generic as it gets. Having THE most generic and accessible sound for this bloated and ugly subgenre, Sworn Enemy are sure to be at the top of the list of the scene kiddies all around. I haven’t heard any of their other earlier albums, but on their page it says they earlier were hardcore, even not being a hardcore fan they might have had something going for them, but honestly here I can’t find any hardcore influences. Stay away from this because it is nothing memorable or special, it’s nothing more than generic, rehashed garbage. Breakdown + 1.