BAND: SWORN IN
ALBUM: THE DEATH CARD
RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 20, 2013
LABEL: RAZOR & TIE
RATING: 9/10
There’s not a single person that should not be anticipating to hear Sworn In’s debut album “The Death Card.” Sworn In absolutely brought it on this new album and I’m extremely pleased with it. The band sounds legitimately pissed off and psychotic throughout the album and it’s an awesome factor on The Death Card. If you haven’t heard of Sworn In yet, they are a heavy metalcore band out of Illinois. The band has toured with some really awesome bands including, King Conquer, For The Fallen Dreams, Hundredth, etc. They also played at Skate & Surf festival this year. The band has a definitely made it a long way from when they first formed, they also have a nice fan base that is still growing.
The Death Card starts out with a extremely grungy dark message titled “XIII” from vocalist Tyler Dennen. It definitely sets the mood for the rest of the album. After the message it slowly fades in to the first actual track of the album “Hypocrisy.” This song was actually released as a single a bit earlier on but it definitely shows what Sworn In is all about. Hypocrisy also has a bit of nu-metal roots in it. Nu-metal seems to be making its way back into this scene of music, seeing as how My Ticket Home also released a new track with the nu-metal sound. “Mindless” is one of my favorites from the album. The overall sound of this song is just really nice to listen to. The real appeal to me was that it still sounded dark and chaotic with a really nice clean chorus.
“Senseless” is the first out of three interludes you will come across on the album. Honestly I would have cut out “Mute,” it just seemed really pointless to have; not to mention it was almost two minutes long. Senseless and “Bitter Blood” do a nice job of breaking up the album on their own. I think it would have been a lot better to leave just those two on the album.
“Snake Eyes” is by far my number one song on the album. This song is just dark and extremely original sounding to me. The guitar riffs are done extremely well in this song while keeping the chaotic sound that you’ll hear all through the album as well. I’d love to see this song live, I really think this will be a fan favorite. “Three Cheers” and “Death” are also the darker songs on the album. I really enjoyed the drumming more on these two songs also. It stays pretty upbeat on Three Cheers and it hit’s a lot heavier on Death.
The album ends with “Return (Heartless)” which is 3:14 in time. While it‘s more of an instrumental showcase, Tyler‘s vocals kick in around 2:02. “We are all alone at heart and we are meant to be this way from the start. Well here I am alone at heart, a man who sold his fucking life to the dark.” Those are the last words you’ll hear on the album and it’s definitely a nice way to end the album.
Overall, Sworn In definitely hit the nail on the head with The Death Card. I really think it’s going to help their fan base grow in the long run and I can’t wait to catch them live. I hope everyone gives this album a listen because it really deserves a listen! I hope the band keeps this sound when they’re ready to record their next album.
– Alex G.
