Killswitch Engage, 'Killswitch Engage'

Massachusetts metalcore faves go after the mainstream

By Kirk Miller

Metromix

Release date: June 30, 2009
Record label: Roadrunner
Official Web site: http://www.killswitchengage.com/

The buzz: Despite a gold album, a Grammy nod and a couple of main stage Ozzfest stints in their recent past, you could argue that metal faves Killswitch Engage occupy a space just under the mainstream radar (go on, ask your music friends if they’ve heard of them). Perhaps searching for that elusive breakthrough hit, the band hired alt-rock producer extraordinaire Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, the Offspring, Stone Temple Pilots) to man the boards on their fifth studio record.
 
The verdict: The band’s big move actually seems muted, but not in a bad way: KsE have always tempered their thumping metal-hardcore assault with some throwback '80s riffing and a solid sense of melody thanks to baby-faced crooner Howard Jones (no, not the keyboard dude). Thus O’Brien’s presence here isn’t felt so much—tracks like “Reckoning” and “Take Me Away” possess the right amount of aggression, familiarity and hookiness to land the band its elusive radio hit, but don’t stray too far from the quintet’s winning, heavy-yet-accessible formula.
 
Did you know? Guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz is usually the band’s producer, as well as a go-to man for the metal underground (his production credits include As I Lay Dying, Underoath and Every Time I Die, among many others). He’s also likely to be wearing some form of purposely ridiculous cape on stage during KsE shows…perhaps undermining the band’s bid for respectability.