Release Date: November 2006
Label: Roadrunner Records
Tracks: 11
Rating: 7
This hardcore metal band is a five-piece group from Massachusetts and this album, As Daylight Dies, marks their third release from Roadrunner Records in five years. The record has proven a big success both at home and in Europe as the band embarks on an all-American tour (including Vancouver on March 28), and they can expect to hit packed stadiums at every stop. So what is the band about? In a word, hardcore. Howard Jones offers up a very versatile voice layered on top of powerful guitar and bass; what sounds at first like an entirely typical metal record is definitely benefited by the vocals.
Killswitch Engage have enjoyed an incredibly positive reception in the U.K. and the rest of Europe following the release of As Daylight Dies, with the singles getting huge airplay on video stations? call-in request shows. I know from having been in England in the last few months that the band is a favourite with hardcore Brits. Having broken into the European airwaves with this album means that Killswitch Engage have expanded their fan base crucially, although sales of the album in the U.S. have yet to pass half of what the band’s last record, The End of Heartache, achieved. With the latter being arguably the band’s big break out album, As Daylight Dies had a lot to live up to and It’s fair to say that Killswitch Engage couldn’t have expected to make the same numbers.
Regardless of sales numbers at the moment, this album offers up a strong set of tracks that are entirely able to stand alone as well as work their part in the record. Instead of falling into the genre trap like so many metal bands do, Killswitch Engage has kept up its own twist on the hardcore sound and each band member has an integral part to play in the final composition and performance. The overall feel of the album is not negative or grating, as many bands in this field can be, but instead quite melodic and laced with harmonies and quietly delivered lyrics. If you are a Killswitch Engage fan already, this album is a great investment. If not, you might want to pick it up and give it a try anyway. What harm can come of trying out something a bit exotic? You might be, as guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz puts it on the Killswitch Engage official MySpace web page, one of the band’s ?caped metal minions? (1) in waiting.
(1) Dutkiewicz, A. (2007). Greetings, My Caped Metal Minions! Retrieved March 29, 2007, from http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=4246250&blogID=233687585&MyToken=2e7d3dc1-1901-43fb-8226-30411d70a0f1
