Killswitch Engage
Alive Or Just Breathing

THE REVIEW

I discovered them by chance one day on the internet, and that song ("Just Barely Breathing") pleased me so much that I went to buy the CD on a blind purchase (do you remember how great it was to buy albums on a blind purchase?).

Melodic trash-death metal (but not only) mixed with American hardcore in an exquisite manner. There is no respite in the songs except in the guitar cameo "Without a Name," immediately followed by "Rise Inside," the true hallmark of the Killswitch Engage sound. Heavy and fast riffs supported by the abrasive screaming of the singer Jesse Leach, who feels completely at ease even in the quieter parts. Oh, another little curiosity about the album: due to the departure of the drummer, all the drum parts were recorded by guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, the group's mastermind. There's a way to hear the band's sound in its early days ("Vide Infra" and "To The Sons Of Man" were retrieved and reworked from their self-titled debut album) when the band's fury was still pure and much less contaminated by melodic breaks.

And please, don't mistake them for a nu-metal band because they have nothing to do with it... call them whatever you want, death... trash metalcore... the essence doesn't change: this is a great album filled with rage and ferocity but at the same time sadness and resignation... it has two sides... and I incredibly like both of them.
To be listened to all in one go in your room with the volume at 3/4!!!!
P.S: The new album has just come out, and I hope to review that one too: it's already in my record player, of course...