Killswitch Engage
Alive or Just Breathing

THE REVIEW

In the opinion of the writer, Killswitch Engage hold a very particular place in the modern Metal scene: that of having managed to lose every shred of credibility until almost completely discrediting themselves in just a decade. And, perhaps distracted by the latest embarrassing release from the Massachusetts combo, many have forgotten that if we happen to fall, it's precisely because we managed to reach great heights: it was the year 2002, and our band, having come off a first well-made album simply titled "Killswitch Engage," returned to the market with what, in the writer's opinion, is their greatest masterpiece, "Alive Or Just Breathing".

Visceral and poetic from the beautiful title, this album was a real bolt from the blue for the then stagnant Rock/Metal scene, offering a completely new sound yet so well-defined that it became an instant reference point for an entire genre: blasts like "To The Sons of Man," "Vide Infra," "Just Barely Breathing," or "Numbered Days" still impress today with their intensity, and the same goes for the more melodic episodes like "The Element of One" or the instrumental "Without A Name," among the best songs in the band's entire repertoire, not to mention those that have become true classics, including the monumental "Fixations On The Darkness," "Temple From The Within," "Life to Lifeless," the super-melodic "My Last Serenade," and the indescribable "Rise Inside".

And although on a musical level, the group was able to re-propose themselves at more or less similar levels in the following years (exceptional the comeback with "The End of The Heartache," good the recent "As Daylight Dies"), what will indisputably be missing from the formation after the release of this album is perhaps the most important thing: the soul. Because the real Killswitch was mainly in the mind and heart of a single man, namely that Jesse Leech, so little missed at the time of his departure and whom everyone today would want back instead of the still talented Howard Jones; he was the real "secret ingredient," he was the true catalyst of the entire band, it was he who was behind so many emotions. Because the harsh truth is that songs like "Reckoning" or "My Curse" don't even have a tenth of the potential of the pieces contained in this album, the harsh truth is that "The End Of the Heartache" seems like a silly love song compared to the cathartic violence of tracks like "Numbered Days," the harsh truth is that it is not enough to interpret classics like "Holy Diver" well to make us forget the beauty of songs like "The Element Of One" and not miss them.

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