Sworn Enemy
Encyclopedia

Biography

The band formed in 1995 as "Downfall" and later on as "Mindset", a product of the extremely expansive and influential New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 Hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 scene. At its original inception the band centered around founding members: vocalist Sal Lococo, lead guitarist Lorenzo Antonucci, 2nd guitarist Mike Raffinello, bass player Jimmy sagos and drummer Zoli.

The band's early output as Mindset was limited to a demo, an appearance on the New Found Hope II - The First Amendment compilation CD, and a 3 song 7 inch named State Of Mind.

Soon after the State Of Mind release, another band named Mindset appeared on the underground metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 scene, having existed as Mindset before the Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

 Mindset. Therefore, Sal and crew changed their name to Sworn Enemy.

The band continued to play shows and garner attention in the scene. In 2001 the band released Negative Outlook on Jamey Jasta
Jamey Jasta
Jamey Jasta is an American musician from New Haven, Connecticut, best known as the lead vocalist of the hardcore band Hatebreed and sludge metal band Kingdom of Sorrow...

's Stillborn Records
Stillborn Records
Stillborn Records is an American-based independent record label, founded by Jamey Jasta of the band Hatebreed. Stillborn Records has released a variety of bands, mainly focused in the genres of metal and hardcore....

. The record was a mix of old school hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 and new school breakdowns, and it quickly gained the band attention in the entire hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 scene. Soon after came Integrity Defines Strength, the title being a play on the I.D.S. crew that Sworn Enemy claimed loyalty to. It contained 3 new songs and a live set at CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...

.

Sworn Enemy's signed a release deal with Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....

 in 2003. The result was As Real As It Gets. The band changed their style as the CD featured a large thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

 influence, as well as abrasive, near-black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

. The new style and worldwide distribution led to tours with bands such as Anthrax
Anthrax (band)
Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene...

 as well as a stint on Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...

 that year.

In early 2006 The Beginning Of The End was released on Abacus Records, a division of Century Media focusing on underground metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 and hardcore
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 inspired bands. The new record displayed more thrash
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...

 influence, and was immediately followed with a national tour with Six Feet Under
Six Feet Under (band)
Six Feet Under is an American death metal band from Tampa, Florida, formed in 1993. The band was originally a side project by Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes with guitarist Allen West of Obituary...

. They have also toured with Dying Fetus and Hatebreed.

In 2007, they were on the Trendkill Tour alongside Kataklysm
Kataklysm
Kataklysm is a Canadian death metal band. They call their musical style "northern hyperblast" after an advertisement in M.E.A.T. magazine describing another band, Fear Factory, as "hyperblast". The term refers to the extremely fast blast beats that Kataklysm's drummer, Max Duhamel, fuses into the...

, As Blood Runs Black, Too Pure To Die, and Suicide Silence
Suicide Silence
Suicide Silence is an American extreme metal band from Riverside, California. The group consists of vocalist Mitch Lucker, guitarists Chris Garza and Mark Heylmun, drummer Alex Lopez and bassist Dan Kenny. Formed in 2002, the band has released three full-length studio albums, one EP and seven music...

.

They were asked by long time friends, Earth Crisis, to be a part of their reunion tour.

On March 29, 2008 the music video for the first single debuted on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball. The video for "A Place of Solace" from the Maniacal CD was directed and shot by David Brodsky and edited by Allison Woest.

A new record Total World Domination will be released June 16 in US and June 22 in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 via Century Media records
Century Media Records
Century Media Records is an Independent record label with offices in the United States, Germany, Australia, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and the United Kingdom.- Background :...

. The record will be once again produced by Tim Lambesis
Tim Lambesis
Tim Lambesis is an American musician, best known as the founding member, lead vocalist of American metalcore band As I Lay Dying. He also has a solo/side project in tribute to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian Death Machine, in which he performs all the required instruments...

 from As I Lay Dying
As I Lay Dying (band)
As I Lay Dying is an American metalcore band from San Diego, California. Founded in 2000 by Tim Lambesis and having completed their first Line-up in 2001, the band consists of vocalist Tim Lambesis, drummer Jordan Mancino, lead guitarist Nick Hipa, rhythm guitarist Phil Sgrosso, and bassist Josh...

.
Lorenzo Antonucci (guitars, vocals) further comments: “I'm very excited about this album and its writing process was better than ever. I've been a part of all the writing for every record and I feel this is our best foundation yet. We took it back to As Real As It Gets
As Real As It Gets
As Real as It Gets is the first full-length studio album released by metalcore band, Sworn Enemy. It was released on March 25, 2003 by Elektra Records...

with a little of Beginning of the End
Beginning of the End
Beginning of the End is a 1957 American science fiction film directed by Bert I. Gordon and starring Peter Graves and Peggie Castle. The film is about an agricultural scientist who has successfully grown gigantic vegetables using radiation...

and Maniacal in it. The sound is way faster and more pissed off than ever, harder than ever and a lot more ignorant. It was also fun working with Tim again. This also marks our first recording with Sid (bass) and JRad (drums), so we are all very excited about that. We couldn’t be more proud of this effort and prepare to have your faces melted!”

Discography

As Mindset Released Record label
Demo 1998
State Of Mind 7" 1998 Back ta Basics
New Found Hope II - The First Amendment (compilation appearance) 1997
As Sworn Enemy
Negative Outlook
Negative Outlook
The first EP released by Sworn Enemy in 2000 on Stillborn Records. It was re-released in 2004.-Track listing:# "New Breed" - 3:25# "Never" - 3:45# "I.D.S." - 4:11# "Pain" - 4:04# "Disbelief" - 3:21# "Last Rites" - 3:39-Credits:* Sal Lococo - Vocals...

2001 Stillborn Records
Stillborn Records
Stillborn Records is an American-based independent record label, founded by Jamey Jasta of the band Hatebreed. Stillborn Records has released a variety of bands, mainly focused in the genres of metal and hardcore....

Integrity Defines Strength
Integrity Defines Strength
The second EP released by Sworn Enemy, issued on Stillborn Records in 2002. It was re-released in 2004.-Track list:# "My Misery" - 2:27# "These Tears" - 4:04# "S.O.B." - 3:52# "Never" - 3:56# "New Breed" - 3:32# "My Misery" - 2:32...

2002 Stillborn Records
Stillborn Records
Stillborn Records is an American-based independent record label, founded by Jamey Jasta of the band Hatebreed. Stillborn Records has released a variety of bands, mainly focused in the genres of metal and hardcore....

As Real as it Gets
As Real As It Gets
As Real as It Gets is the first full-length studio album released by metalcore band, Sworn Enemy. It was released on March 25, 2003 by Elektra Records...

2003 Elektra
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....

/Stillborn Records
Stillborn Records
Stillborn Records is an American-based independent record label, founded by Jamey Jasta of the band Hatebreed. Stillborn Records has released a variety of bands, mainly focused in the genres of metal and hardcore....

Internet Promo 2005 (two new demo mp3s spread by lead singer Sal Lococo through the East Coast Hardcore Messageboard)
The Beginning of the End 2006 Abacus Records
Maniacal
Maniacal (album)
Maniacal is the third full-length studio album by New York crossover thrash band, Sworn Enemy. The album was released in the United States in 2008.-Track listing:# "Ignorance" – 2:43# "Time to Rage" – 2:21# "A Place to Solace" – 4:14...

2008 Century Media
Total World Domination 2009 Regain Records
Regain Records
Regain Records is a Swedish based independent record label. The label predominantly releases death metal and black metal albums. Regain Records was founded from what remained of the former label, Wrong Again Records, by Per Gyllenbäck in 1997...


Members

Current members
  • Sal Lococo - Vocals
  • Matt Garzilli - Guitar
  • Anthony Paganini - Bass
  • Jeff Cummings - Guitar
  • Danny Lamagna - Drums


Former members
  • Guitar
    • Lorenzo Antonucci
    • Mike Raffinello
  • Bass
    • Mike Couls
    • Shawn "Tootsie" Cox
    • Edward Kilpatrick
    • Mike Palmer
    • Jimmy Sagos
  • Drums
    • Paul Antignai
    • Jerad "JRad" Buckwalter
    • Timmy Mycek
    • Paul Wallmaker
    • Zoli

External links

  • Official website
  • Sworn Enemy on Facebook
    Facebook
    Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

  • Sworn Enemy at MySpace
    MySpace
    Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

  • Sworn Enemy at Last.fm
    Last.fm
    Last.fm is a music website, founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. It has claimed 30 million active users in March 2009. On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for UK£140m ....

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