Review Summary: "In the end Sworn Enemy made a great choice breaking away from the "core." Though the album features two or 3 breakdowns at most, you can't really regard them as metalcore anymore. They sound like Slayer, with better guitar solos, and better drumming."
It seems these days that many bands are trying to get rid of the "core" in their genre. As I Lay Dying tried to break away from metalcore to a thrash sound, Knights of the Abyss are steering away from their deathcore roots to a sound similiar of The Black Dahlia Murder and Job For A Cowboy also left the same genre and went towards a more death metal sound.
Sworn Enemy was a band that started off as simply, hardcore, not much metal involved at all before progressing to a more metal sound with "The Beginning of the End" while still containing a fair amount of hardcore. Their latest realease "Maniacal" breaks away just about as far away as possible from their hardcore roots and in the best way possible.
The album starts off with the song Ignorance and it kicks in hard. The drums are fast and thrashy as well as the guitar riffs. One of the best features of this album is the drumming. The whole album is full of doublekick that makes you want to bob your head the whole time. About a minute into the first song it slows down into a breakdown(esque) part with some amazing double kick. If it sounds familiar it may be because its the drummer from As I Lay Dying. According to the bands myspace Jordan Mancino is good friends with the band and wanted to record with them. This is a great thing for As I Lay Dying fans and even those who do not like them might be surprised at how well and original he plays on this album. The only con is on the second song "Time to Rage" there is a drum part so similiar to Elegy off their "Frail Words Collapse" album. It almost ruins the song, almost.
This band is not centered around the drumming however, the guitars are just as good as the drumming if not better at times. The song "Weather the Storm" features the heaviest guitar riffs these guys have to offer with a blazing solo to start things off and guitar licks that make you laugh, their just that good. Just when you think you couldn't get enough of the heavy riffs and not to mention the best drumming of any song on the cd, the band breaks it down, hard. it is quite possibly the heaviest breakdown I have ever heard even beating out anything Lamb of God has done.
The vocals are the only thing that don't really stand out. They are good, but he doesn't change his tone very much throughout. After a few listens you start to zone him out and focus more on the music itself.
In the end Sworn Enemy made a great choice breaking away from the "core." Though the album features two or 3 breakdowns at most, you can't really regard them as metalcore anymore. They sound like Slayer, with better guitar solos, and better drumming.
