Band : Sworn Amongst
Album title : And So It Begins
Label : Rising
Distributor : SPV
Release date : 01/08/2008 (Europe)
Release : CD

As happens so often with young bands, this Hull (Eastern Britain coastal town some 285 kms North from London) based act has undergone some line-up changes since its conception in November 2002.

First working on their songs and honing their skills, the foursome released their 4-track (one song in two versions) debut The Sworn Demo in May 2004, making their live debut around the same time, and in October followed a sophomore private release with the 3-track (two songs of which also on the first demo) Mass Destruction demo. During 2005 they entered the Snickers Unsigned competition (sponsored by Kerrang! Magazine), and finished second.

In June 2006 original singer Andy Napierski left to be replaced by original member and guitarist Liam "Frank" Liddell, the band at the same time seeing new guitarist Harvey Fox join Liddell and other original members Rob Elwood (bass) and Jonny Harper (drums). That same year saw the guys appearing on the main stage of UK's Bloodstock Festival indoor event (other acts including Deathstars, Primal Fear and My Dying Bride, to name but a few) and releasing their full-length Derision Of Conformity (using all songs from their demos and adding 4 new ones, I'm not sure whether that wasn't still recorded with the old line-up though), followed in December by yet another, this time self-titled (and with all new songs), 3-track demo. More festival performances came in 2007 when the band appeared at Glastonbudget Festival and Lunacy Festival, and in June of that same year the guys signed to Rising Records.

The 10-track album was recorded later that same year by Mark Daghorn at Rising Studios, and released (in the UK) in late March earlier this year. Thanks to their label signing a distribution deal with Germany's SPV, us Europeans will now be able to find the album in their local record stores without the hassle of import fees!

Let's talk about the music now, which I regret to say I didn't really find exhilerating at first. With influences coming from such artists as Pantera, Machine Head, Metallica, Megadeth, Prong, The Haunted, Children Of Bodom, Black Label Society, In Flames, Soilwork, Strapping Young Lad, and Lamb Of God (thus cited on the band's MySpace page) you might find it somewhat surprising that the band's mix of Heavy Metal, Thrash Metal, and Groove Metal has a sound which is remeniscent to that of the scene in the late '80s/ early '90s (you might suspect a more modern touch). Of course, with the band already out that long, there's been plenty of reviews of the album (which re-employs such "old" songs as "Drive" – on all demos except the last; "The Rules Of Engagement" – off the full-length demo; and more recent demo tracks "Blind Faith" and "No Turning Back" – off the last demo) written already, the most positive of which have been gathered at myspace.com/swornamongst. In spite of all the positivity (talk about "...technical guitars, frantic drumming, commanding vocals...", "...Thrash that shows proper respect to the bands who made the genre of music the force it was...", "...serious neck snapping fun...") I still cannot get excited by the offering. The guitar melodies, in contrast to their effective catchiness, are fairly simple, mostly mid-paced...and repetitive! The vocals may be "commanding", but they're also somewhat unilateral and ultimately boring to my personal taste. Even to this fairly nagative reviewer there are still sóme surprising moments on the album though, and the opening of "Unleash The Power" is one of 'em. At a first (54 ½ minute) listen of the album, I even nodded my head along most of the 10 songs on the album. Good material...and even véry good for an evening's worth of amusement, but I've heard nothing world shocking here!

In other words: feel free to feel about this British band as you like, but personally I won't think too much about 'em. Check out their stuff (video and radio edit of album opener "And So It Begins", plus full versions of "The Wait" and "Rejection")at myspace.com/swornamongst and make up your own mind! The band obviously beliefs in their material, deems it worthy enough to conquer the rest of the world with as well...but as far as I can see, the guys have yet to break out of the UK as far as gigs go. Who knows...with the European distribution of their album their dreams may just come true after all! Personal rating is done mostly on the merit of the music's catchy effective simplicity rather than on technical prowess!

83/100

Tony.