Review Summary: "Killswitch Engage" covers no real new ground in terms of musical progression, with the band seemingly content to stagnate in their own lack of creativity and risk taking
Self titled albums. The choice by a band to name their album after themselves often shows a lack of creativity and, more often than not, the content of the album follows suit. There are also bands who have more than one eponymous release. This shows a further lack of the aforementioned qualities. Even though there are exceptions to this rule (Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath), unfortunately, Killswitch Engage’s latest offering does not fall into this category.
In press interviews for
Killswitch Engage the band stated that their decision to release a second self titled album was due to the difference of the new material from their older outputs and wanted to use the album title as a representation of a 'new start' for the band. The only question is: where is this new direction?
The band have been riding on the same writing formula of Gothenburg influenced riffs and harsh vocals melded with soaring clean choruses by vocalist Howard Jones since their breakthrough album
The End Of Heartache. This same formula is continued through
Killswitch Engage, unfortunately, on the third outing for this formula the band comes unstuck. The repetitive formula makes the songs hard to distinguish from each other, and listeners may well find themselves listening to one song, looking at the playlist and realising that the next song has started.
There are a number of catchy riffs which will get listener’s heads bobbing or feet tapping and guitarist Joel Stroetzel throws in a number of decent solos to help break up the tracks ("Never Again"). There are still breakdowns followed by subdued clean sections followed by the return to anthemic choruses but it all feels like it’s been done before, which of course, it has. It is actually possible to pick parts of songs that have been heard on previous albums, it's almost as if the album is composed of leftovers from those releases.
The guitars are backed by the usual solid bass and rhythm section. Justin Foley has always been arguably the strongest member of Killswitch Engage and his fills and interesting bass patterns help to bring some form of variety to the songs. One noticeable example is the bass and drum break in “Starting Over”. Mike D’Antonio’s bass work is nothing more than root notes, but this approach works well with the drums in providing a solid backbone for the guitars to work over.
Vocally, the band is as strong as ever. Both Howard Jones’ screams and clean vocals remain some of the best in the metalcore genre and he does well at bringing his lyrics to life and filling them with emotion. Despite this, the majority of the lyrics are extremely generic and sometimes cheesy. Since the track “The End Of Heartache” became the band’s biggest hit, it seems the vast majority of the band’s material addresses depression and lost love. A prime example of this is the following excerpt, taken from the track “The Return”:
"I would tear my eyes out
To never see your face
But all of these scars
Can never be erased"
This theme works, but when it is featured on nearly every track it becomes tiresome and the listener may find themselves wishing that Jones would pull himself together and try covering other themes in his song writing. Songs such as “Reckoning” provides a break from this with lyrics concerning cult status/religion and show that Jones is capable of expanding into different territory. One element that is notably missing from the vocals is guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz’s backing vocals. Dutkiewicz’s high screams and occasional gutturals helped to add another layer to Jones’ vocals but the absence of them from most of the tracks leaves them sounding somewhat hollow and empty.
Adam D and Brendan O’Brien’s production of the album is clear and crisp, but possibly sounds too well polished for a metal album. There is also the question of whether some of Jones’ vocals have been auto-tuned, as at times they just sound too perfect. Overall the production of the album ensures that all the instruments and vocals are well balanced, providing an easy listening experience.
In conclusion,
Killswitch Engage covers no real new ground in terms of musical progression, with the band seemingly content to stagnate in their own lack of creativity and risk taking and churn out the same songs with the same formulas for the rest of their career. The album does contain solid hooks which draw the listener in and easily pleased fans of anthemic choruses are more than catered for, however, those seeking some form of progression from the band will be sorely disappointed and should have expected no less.
Perhaps the band should follow the lyrics from the chorus to “Starting Over” and ask themselves
Can we start again?.
