Sworn Amongst
“Severance”
(Rising Records)

With a tender age of just 17 (and by Gad this is their third album no less!!), these guys could be walking in the great steps of Metallica and Pantera given by how much they’re influenced by turn of the 90s US thrash. Singer / guitarist Liam Liddell sounds like a hatefilled Hetfield in the making and oh yes, they’ve got treacle thick riffs a plenty with meat sized hooks to snare a whale! No flash in the pan, Sworn Amongst broke onto the scene by beating 3,000 other bands across Europe by winning the Kerrang! Unsigned Competition, granting them a performance at firstly the Download and subsequently Bloodstock festivals. The band set the bar high on this abum but in reality “Severance” has surpassed even their own expectations with rebellious songs like ‘Exploited’ as Liddell screams ‘..fuck the system!!...’ to the super heavy ‘Darkness’. With the extreme pit carnage of their live shows completing the package, prepare to pledge allegiance to what could become one of the biggest bands of the 21st century.

-Shan Siva

Sworn Amongst
“Derision of Conformity”
(Rising Records)

With an average age of 17, its reassuring to know that there is some youthful talent in Britain besides power drinking, although Sworn Amongst certainly aren’t lacking power in the heavy contemporary thrash that they play. Thankfully not going retro these guys have sought to continue where Metallica left off with ‘..Puppets’ playing a slick and highly controlled form of metal and much to their credit concentrated on writing excellent well structures songs with plenty of tempo variations within them. For a self financed and (well) produced debut, “Derision of Conformity”, whilst not setting a milestone in originality (Ulrich & co get the credit for that lads) is both a brave and talented release that showcase the ambitions of a band that have the capability to make it big and make this country once again the centre of the metalverse.

-Shan Siva