Beez: The Biggest Album Killswitch Engage Will Ever Make
Beez gets all excited and suggests that this is the biggest album that Killswitch Engage will ever make.
This is, without the slightest shadow of a doubt, a very, VERY important album for Killswitch Engage. The End Of Heartache (along with A7X’s Waking The Fallen) is in this anything but humble opinion, the best metalcore album ever made. Huge riffs, great productions and ferocity and melody in equal measures. It is, by all intents and purposes, a complete fucking rocker.
As Daylight Dies was a solid effort too. It stuck rigidly to the same formula used on TEOH, it had some corking moments and it was solid 7/10 stuff. Not a bad album but not as great as one would have hoped. The ‘My Curse’ single and, perhaps most significantly, their cover of Dio’s ‘Holy Diver’ finally gave them the break that they’ve deserved in the States too.
By all accounts, if Killswitch are going to establish themselves as one of metal’s premier bands (in that elite league with Avenged, Bullet, Trivium, Machine Head et al), then they are not going to get a better chance than right here, right now. I don’t think it’s hype when I say that this is potentially the biggest album that Killswitch will ever make. Get it right while the eyes and ears of the world are watching and the rewards will speak for themselves. Get it wrong and it’ll be a bitch to recover from.
That’s exciting enough but today’s news about the album has been very encouraging. When Howard Jones says “we had to get out of our comfort zone” that is a damn good thing. It doesn’t mean that Killswitch are going to go Nigerian flute-core; it means that they acknowledge that they can’t stick to the template that they’ve followed on their previous two records because it’ll be greeted with a “same old, same old” response. Indeed, in my personal opinion, if there are 2 bands that are capable of making a “black album” (combining riffs and melody in a way that even the casual hard rock fan can fall in love with), those 2 bands are Avenged Sevenfold and Killswitch Engage. Maybe now is the time for Killswitch to try their hand at that?
Basically, this is one of this year’s most significant metal releases and it would be wrong to not pass comment on it. Killswitch have managed brilliance once already in their career and if they were to do it again with their forthcoming self-titled effort, this could be the moment Killswitch come of age and take on all comers.
Fingers crossed that it’s everything it could be.
‘Til next time,
Beez
p.s. If you have tickets to see AC/DC at any of their UK dates this year, they will rip your head off. We’re still getting over how good they were at the o2 Arena last night!
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i’ve been a huge kse fan for about 4 years now. i love (of course) all their albums. i hope that whilst they try something new they do stick to their signature sound. i would hate to have them go over-melodic and AV7x. i like AV7x but they are not KSE. in fact nobody comes up with the headbang inducing riffwork and sound like kse, it’s quite a unique sound. i wasn’t too impressed with the fan filmed footage of the new track but i know that’s likely to do with the bad quality.
Killswitch HAVE achieved brilliance on one album- but I don’t think it was End Of Heartache, it was on Alive Or Just Breathing. And unlike many people who feel that way, it has nothing to do with the vocalist- Jesse and Howard are equal in my eyes. The difference is in the guitars. AOJB had this huge darkness about it, creating an atmosphere like few records with that clean a production and accessibility. TEOH was just a bit more predictable, and although the songs may be more consistant, there wasn’t a single song to live up to My Last Serenade or Just Barely Breathing.
For me, KSE have become one of those bands you can rely on to release an album packed with good songs but not one who is going to come out with one of those massive metal tunes anymore- no MFH’s Halo, no Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr, no Redneck- and that is what they need on the new record. The same kind of consistency but with a few huge numbers thrown in.
As for best metalcore albums? A7X? Are you kidding me? Just no. The two best metalcore albums are Shadows Fall’s The Art Of Balance and Unearth’s The Oncoming Storm. Shadows Falls guitar parts are simply better on the record than anyone else in the genre, and Unearth are pretty damn close. What Unearth do better than anyone else is the beatdown- after listening to any of their records, everyone else’s beatdowns seem tame and predictable, and more done to have a slow bit for moshing than doing anything for the song.
Having said all that, I think Killswitch are capable of releasing that great album. I just don’t think they will. But on the subject of ‘black albums’, let’s remember one thing about that record- how many songs from that record ever make it into a Metallica live show? Half, at most? Usually only a quarter? That album may have broken the mainstream, but it’s not actually that strong. If KSE are going to try doing the same, I suspect they may make the same mistake- do an album with a few absolute belters- all time classics, perhaps- and a huge amount of filler. I’m worried- I think we may have had their best days, and if they soften to gain popularity and fail… I just hope I’m wrong.
Repka – this is what makes this site great. thanks for your contribution.
I’m not with you on Shadows Fall at all, Unearth’s Oncoming Storm is a belter but very one-dimensional and A7X – say what you like about their image/personality etc. – when Waking The Fallen came out, it was like a Maiden/Pantera/Metallica hybrid with added hardcore crunch. it’s STILL a fantastic record.
The End Of Heartache is a MASSIVE tune, as is Rose of Sharyn, My Last Serenade is still one of the best tunes to hear in a club and I hope that there’s more than where that came from.
The point about the black album is that, it’s nigh on impossible to do. it’s what set metallica apart from their competition. Granted, they were always slightly ahead through sheer quality but with tunes like Sandman, Roam and SBT, they did what Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer etc. couldn’t.
I think the band that does that out of Machine (fucking) Head, Trivium, A7X, BFMV etc. will be the ones that truly excel.
And the black album rules.
Hmmmm….I remember when I first heard Rose Of Sharyn from The End Of Heartache. It blew me away, that entire album blew me away. I’ve never been a fan of metalcore. I can’t stand Avenged Sevenfold & have never really rated Shadows Fall or Unearth (the latter even less after seeing them at Defenders II).
Killswitch are the exception though. I enjoyed Daylight Dies but couldn’t shake the feeling that it seemed like the 2nd half of ….Heartache. So the jury is still out for me on if Killswitch are a great bad rather then a good one.
This album should decide it for me & for what its worth I hope its a cracker!
‘great bad’……is meant to read ‘great band’!
Whoops.
my opinion is that they should stick with the sound from AOJB or even their first self-titled album. the sound on those 2 albums is far great then what they did with TEOH. ADD bought back that feeling some more and you cant deny that you dont want to sing along to The Arms Of Sorrow everytime is pops on your playlist. thats why ADD will always be better then TEOH.
my only hope for them is they dont do a complete wreck of the new album is make every song sound like Holy Diver. if they can pull it off great but i just hope they dont lose that edge which is present on their first 2 albums and ADD.
as for A7X, they have to be the worst band on the planet. ive never seen a band, sorry i mean an egotistical vocalist, show such a ‘up my own arse’ attitude. oh wait i have, Axel Rose. the world of metal will be a much ebtter place when they are gone. and before you criticise, i have seen them live 3 times (not of my choice but the cheap foreign booze helped) and they failed to impress each time.
and i have to agree Repka, The Art Of Balance has to be one of the best metalcore albums around.
KSE are ok at best, most of their stuff is bullcrap. Howard needs to learn how to growl
I would agree with the pro-Shadows Fall comments, and I think that perhaps Ascendancy (Trivium) could be considered one of the best metalcore albums around.
But hopefully Killswitch can produce a masterpiece, so we can all die to it at download
In response to Meh listen to Blood Has Been Shed (Howards old and other band) and then see if you have the same opinions of his vocals. He is one of the better vocalists out there.
However KSE are too samey and unless this new album drops the tired formula of aggressive verses and singy chorus’s then we are all doomed!!
In saying that the Kill live!!!
Yeah, Sam, I’d have to agree with you. I think all in all Ascendancy is the best metalcore album so far. Bands like Killswitch and ATR come close, but somehow didnt have the overall completeness Ascendancy did. It had everything. Heavy,fast,melodic,slow,swapped solos,Growls and cleans.
Either way, I can’t wait for the new KSE album. They’re one of my favourite bands, and sticking to the same template or not, they havent made a mistake so far. Weird that its self titled again. That’s pretty original. Having a second Self Titled album lol.