Killswitch Engage - Alive or Just Breathing Review

Killswitch Engage Alive or Just Breathing

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Tracklist:
1. Numbered Days
2. Self Revolution
3. Fixation On The Darkness
4. My Last Serenade
5. Life To Lifeless
6. Just Barely Breathing
7. To The Sons Of Man
8. Temple From The Within
9. The Element Of One
10. Vide Infra
11. Without A Name
12. Rise Inside

Ranking: #63 for 2002

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4
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4.5
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TheSunSleeps348 USER (8 Reviews)

2007-02-14 | 25 comments | 1,733 views

4 of 4 thought this review was well written

Killswitch Engage – Alive of Just Breathing

Killswitch hits hard starting off with Alive or Just Breathing. Infact, this was the first Metalcore album I ever owned, and some of the first I ever heard. This album welcomed me to the genre, as I found I could not have made a better choice for an album to start off with. Sadly, the lead vocalist, Jesse Leach (Who in my opinion, was one of the best Metalcore vocalists to use a microphone), left the band shortly after the album was released, due to apparent depression and vocal problems he needed to deal with, and obviously thought it was better if he was not a part of Killswitch Engage. He has now been replaced by Howard Jones, who does quite a good job as well, and it is pretty arguable on who is better. But let’s not get in to that, as the focus of this review has to do with Alive or Just Breathing, not Howard Jones.

For the full band, here’s the lineup:
Adam Dutkiewicz - guitar
Joel Stroetzel - guitar
Mike D'Antonio - bass
Jesse Leach - Vocals
Justin Foley - drums

Again, I am going to do this review in two parts, starting with tracks I’d like to point out, and then the instrumentation of the album.

Part 1: The Tunes

The first taste you get of Killswitch Engage on this album is magnificent, starting off strong with “Numbered Days” (In my eyes, pretty much the strongest, and one of the heaviest tracks on the album, with little competition). Now, when I say this, don’t get me wrong, the other tracks are quite beautiful as well, just not so much as “Numbered Days”. Jesse screams right off the bat, which kind of gives you a kick in the ***, as there are no instruments playing when he does this, just his raw, powerful scream to open things up. There are very little clean vocals in this album, but where they do fog through, they are simply amazing. (Not to mention catchy). Great way to open the album.

Second in the lineup comes “Self Revolution”, which contains more high pitch screams from Jesse than the previous song, and some yelling, which Jesse like to do quite a bit on this album. There is one extremely outstanding part in this song, which is where it does a breakdown, straight into Jesse’s clean singing again. This song contains more clean vocals than the previous song, but these ones sound just as good. Great way to follow an amazing track.

Next: “Fixation on the Darkness”, another highlight from the album, and one of my favorites by far. This song has a very heavy feel to it, more so than Self Revolution, as it has quite a bit less clean vocals, and focuses on the instruments as much as vocals. The chorus is very good, as it has a great breakdown, and catchy vocals. The emotion to this song is simply fantastic, as it gives sort of a sorrow feel. Well, that’s three great tracks in a row. By now, your hoping they can keep it up, otherwise, your going to be very disappointed.

And then there’s “My Last Serenade”. It’s a great relief to know that this makes it four great songs in a row. This song (like most on the album) has an extremely depressed feel to it, especially in the chorus. This was one of the singles from the album, which is quite smartly picked, as it gives you a good feel for KsE.

After the first four tracks, “Life to Lifeless” saunters along. This is one of the singles from the album as well, which wasn’t as smart as any of the other singles, as this is not one of the highlight tracks from the album. It is by no means bad, but it just doesn’t match any of the first four. It has somewhat of a catchy chorus that may grow on you after a while, but not as much as any of the previous tracks. Not all the songs could be as amazing as the first four, I guess this was just one of them.

“Just Barely Breathing” has “barely” any screams in it compared to the other songs, making one of the softer songs on the album. This also makes it one of the best, as it has exceptional lyrics, and great emotion. Defiantly a highlight track on the album, and it’s good to hear that Killswitch Engage can also write softer songs (at least compared to the likes of “Numbered Days”), so you know that the material is diverse.

“To the Sons of Man” is 1:58 minute(s) long. And actually pretty pointless. I don’t really have much to say about this song other than it has good guitars. It would be much better if it had a longer length to it. I applaud the effort though.

“Temple from the Within” and “The Element of One” are both superb tracks, that just add to the album. They both have great emotion, and are both very heavy (especially “Temple from the Within”). Instant favorites from Killswitch Engage. (I may note that “The Element of One” has an amazing vocal part to it, and is extremely catchy).

I am now going to skip right to the closing track, which I do not have much to say about, other than it is a great closing track, with amazing lyrics. Great way to wrap up the album, as this holds pretty much everything KsE has to offer.

Part 2: The instrumentation

All that typing, and nothing about the instruments. By now, you’re probably thinking “What about the instruments? I want to know what it sounds like!” As for the instruments, the band does a great job not to focus too much on the vocals and forget that there are instruments incorporated in a band. That’s one outstanding thing with the Metalcore genre. It has a large variety of vocals, and never ever forgets about the instruments. Metalcore music always seems to have some cool riff playing in the background, or it’s the main focus for a good 30 seconds or so. A good example of this is “Fixation on the Darkness”. I guarantee you that if you are a guitarist, you will look up the tabs for this song eventually, because the riff is just too catchy. A more “Chug-a-lug” feel riff is in “Numbered Days”, which also holds another catchy riff that starts the album right off. Most of the songs are like this, actually, so guitarists will find this quite an interesting album.
As for those drummers out there, KsE has a great drummer. He makes the breakdowns feel whole, and he also plays some pretty cool beats that gives a song a “kick into gear” feel. For example, in “Fixation on the Darkness” – in the intro. If you are finding it hard to understand what I am trying to say, go listen to Lazarus by Chimaira, at about 1:08 minutes in, the drummer kicks it into gear. Overall, good drums.

The bass on this album gives the whole album a whole feel to it, and is turned to precisely the right volume, unlike lots of bands, who usually have an unnoticeable bass.
The highlight for the bass is in the wrap up song, “Rise Inside” where the bass kind of takes it away for a while. Well done.

Pros:
-Amazing vocals
-Brilliant breakdowns
-Impressive guitars and drums.
Good emotion

Cons:
-To The Sons of Man – pointless.
-Nothing outstanding other than that.

Well, that’s about it. I hope you enjoyed reading this, I know I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for reading my review, and look for future ones, as I am just getting started.

-The Sun Sleeps

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