Review Summary: My first review ever, so constructive criticism is welcome.
By the mid 1990's, when Nu-Metal hit the market, many thought that real heavy metal was dead. After all, Metallica started to experiment with their sound, so did Megadeth, Slayer was not making much great music, and Anthrax started to get worse by the time Stomp 442 came out. Thrash metal was dead, and the only band that kept metal alive was Pantera.
However, by the late 90's, something started to brew around the Boston area. Bands like Shadows Fall, All That Remains, Bury Your Dead, Overcast, Aftershock, and Unearth began mixing hardcore with groove-laden riffs, with a tinge of Swedish metal. Of course these were the beginnings of Metalcore (a lot of people would refer to these bands as hardcore, but in my opinion, these bands are more 'metal' than '-core').
By the early 2000's these bands started to get a lot of notoriety due to one band getting very popular--Killswitch Engage. Killswitch Engage's sophomore effort, Alive or Just Breathing, sums up Metalcore in a sweet 45 minute's worth of sheer awesomeness. The highlight of this album being frontman Jesse Leach's vocals. This album was a breath of fresh air when it came out. At the time, not many bands were doing the things Killswitch were up to. Jesse's voice seemed so unique, and even though the "heavy verse, clean chorus" routine is very overused today, no one can capture the emotion and the unique-ness of Jesse's voice.
The album has everything epic riffs in songs like Just Barely Breathing, to thrashy speed metal of Vide Infra and to the Hardcore style of Numbered Days and Fixation on the Darkness. Choruses are very melodic, especially in songs like My Last Serenade and Self Revolution. And typical to their metalcore style, they have breakdowns in most of their songs. However, these are not typical of the watered down metalcore bands of today where the whole song consists of breakdowns and whiny vocals. These breakdowns actually make sense, fit and sound very well in their placement of the songs.
Lyrics, typical to Metalcore are positive and even christian (Numbered Days). However, they still sound "ballsy" when especially in songs like Fixation on the Darkness or Vide Infra. The Best song on this whole record though is Just Barely Breathing. It has a acoustic beginning, and then a very heavy, melodic death metal/thrash metal esque speedy riff. This goes on for half the song, and then by the second half, the chorus comes on. I daresay, this is the best chorus in Metalcore history. The title of the album comes from this chorus when Jesse yells passionately "Are we alive or just breathing?".
The album is positive, but also recognizes the darkness and the corruption in songs like Fixation on the Darkness. Which has a very thrashy riff. Songs like Life to Lifeless and the album's most famous song, My Last Serenade are just very groovy and have great memorable choruses. No whiny vocals or lyrics about relationships or whatnot.
The guitar players Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz are very creative and write very unique metal riffs. Another cool thing is how Adam Dutkiewicz also played drums on this album, along with his backing vocals, guitars, and the fact that he produced this record. Now that is talent. Also, Mike D'Antonio's Bass Guitar is actually audible in this album, unlike most watered down metalcore albums today.
One thing they should have changed is the acoustic instrumental Without a Name. Either they should have made it the intro to the album or just cut it out because it really has no point in being there. Alive or Just Breathing ends with the song Rise Inside, which is not one of my favorites, but still a worthy song.
Ultimately, unlike most metalcore albums, this album is a good breath of fresh air, and the way I look at it, musically it is Godlike unlike all the others. It is a very underrated modern day Heavy Metal Classic. Today metalcore has just gotten so repetitive, that most bands just sound practically the same. There are only a handful of good bands, like the ones mentioned above, that have a good sound that is not watered down, poppy and whiny. This record is the poster-child, the model, the idol, a blueprint of what good metal sounds like this decade. Only a very small handful of bands this decade have made an album with this kind of groundbreaking material.
