Killswitch Engage – This Consequence
Killswitch Engage – This Consequence
Metal Blade Records
Release Date: 14/02/2025
Review by Beth Morait
9.5/10
Music is an amazing thing in many ways. One of which is its ability to attach itself to a particular moment in time, within your mind. Killswitch Engage’s “As Daylight Dies” is one of those albums for me. Every time I listen to this early album from the Metalcore giants, I’m back in a certain place and time in my life. It gets played a lot, particularly on darker days when I feel the need to live memories, both happy, and painful. It’s cathartic.
It’s been a while since one of Killswitch’s albums had made such an impact on me. But now they’re back with their new release, and I’m back in the early days of Killswitch, getting that feeling once again. And now it has the added bonus of nostalgia to boot, which makes everything fonder for us older Metalheads who are crashing at speed towards comfortable slippers and a nice cup of tea.
Opening with ‘Abandon Us’, this album sets the brutality to max from the get go. Thunderous pace, powerful riffs, and screams and growls straight from the pits of hell. Within 10 seconds I was banging my head and contorting my face into ugly shapes, as the music leeched itself to my soul.
But, as with everything Killswitch, it’s not all about the crushing devilish heaviness. It’s also about the art of writing songs, and creating technical sections, with clean vocals, that stand as tall as all the brutality. Track 5, ‘I Believe’ is a perfect example of this. For the majority of the track, it’s a killer Modern Metal song, delivered mainly in cleans, with catchy riffs and hooks, but it still has that eponymous Killswitch sound, and we do get a little Metalcore within it.
Track 6, ‘Where It Dies’ wanders into Blackened Thrash for a while too, with a Classic sounding Thrash riff, and a face-melting solo, but brutal growls. And this is indeed the nature of the beast that is Killswitch. They can take pretty much any genre and Killswitch it. The whole album bends every genre to within an inch of its life, turning it into something beautifully nostalgic, but equally current, and distinct.
This album really is going to please anyone who liked early Killswitch, and excite new fans alike. And that’s genius. Do I still miss Howard Jones’ vocals? Yes. Do Jesse Leach’s vocals measure up on this album? Hell yes with knobs on. And this record has all the vibrancy and energy, along with a delicious rawness, that takes things right back to the good old days. I’ve deducted half a mark, because they fade the first track out, which just pissed me off no end, because I passionately hate fades. But, aside from that 5-second faux pas, the rest of the album is absolutely killer, and will be an instant hit, I have no doubt.
‘Forever Aligned’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Abandon Us
02. Discordant Nation
03. Aftermath
04. Forever Aligned
05. I Believe
06. Where it Dies
07. Collusion
08. The Fall Of Us
09. Broken Glass
10. Requiem
LINKS:
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