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Rating:
To be honest, these Killswitch Engage were destined to become the champions of the new generation hardcore. In fact, each member of the then quartet (which became a quintet following the release of "Alive or Just Breathing") came from renowned metal bands in the underground universe. Specifically, D'Antonio and Dutkiewicz were part (and still are after the reunion) of Overcast, from whose ashes, besides the already mentioned bassist and drummer of Killswitch Engage, the vocalist of Shadows Fall, Brian Fair, emerged.
For those accustomed to the Howard Jones era Killswitch Engage, which is from 2003 onwards, the album, stamped 2000, will almost seem like it was played by another band. The eponymous debut album indeed, in which there are many influences from the Swedish melodic death metal scene, features a very small amount of those melodic and/or tear-jerking choruses - almost absent, to be honest - that, starting from the next work, would be present in almost all the songs, especially in hitbreakers like "My Last Serenade and Fixation On The Darkness".
"Killswitch Engage," whose length does not exceed 32 minutes, immediately kicks off with the songs "Temple From The Within" and "Vide Infra", the most famous tracks of the work in question, reintroduced in the following album, which immediately display the characteristics of the entire CD: bone-crushing riffs by Stroetzel, pure hardcore screaming by the vocalist Jesse Leach, and extraordinary performance by the rhythmic duo Dutkiewicz-D'Antonio. A line of praise is truly deserved by the latter: the young bassist, with his powerful and hyper-fast picking, gives the songs that granitic sound which will become the trademark of the group. The third track, "Irreversal", deviates a bit from the first two, played at breakneck speed, precisely due to the presence of tempo changes and decelerations. The fourth track, "Rusted Embrace", is, in my opinion, the best of the album in question, along with "Temple From The Within", due to the stunning vocal performance of the surprising vocalist Jesse Leach. After the instrumental passage "Prelude" comes the trio "Soilborn"-"Numb Sickened Eyes"-"In The Unblind", the most aggressive songs of the Massachusetts quartet's work, placed just before the final "One Last Sunset", a melancholic instrumental - but which, truthfully, does not create much atmosphere - almost as if to create "the storm before the calm" (oh yes, quite unusual!).
The album, engaging and well self-produced, sets the standards of the Killswitch Engage sound and lays the foundation for the subsequent masterpiece "Alive or Just Breathing". A must-have.
Tracklist and Lyrics
01 Temple From the Within (03:45)
Make me feel serenity when all is revealed
so easy to look back in life
and question but I must seek the strength
to push forward
I want to see what's so beautiful inside
as we drink of life
absolve me through your suffering
teach me to inscribe
these words upon my heart
cover me with the shadow of your hand
I will not lose myself in everything that tears me down
because you stand by me
no one to blame for my transgressions
no one to blame but myself
02 Vide Infra (03:34)
I have opened my eyes to see
The world that surrounds me, daily
I refuse to be led by the majority
Can't compromise I and I
To pass judgement
Judgement will be
Passed upon you
I will stand up for who I am never moved
Never moved by condemnation
No one is placed higher than another
No matter race or creed or gender
We must teach forgiveness and compassion
For who we are
Through understanding of our differences
We will find respect for one another
Because we are all flesh and blood
No one is placed higher than another
No matter race or creed or gender
We must teach forgiveness and compassion
For who we are
I am not afraid to speak my mind
No matter the consequences
Stay true to yourself
Through the humble eyes of a child
We will realize true equality
They cannot take me from me
They cannot take you from you
They cannot take I from I
They cannot take I from I
They cannot take me from me
They cannot take you from you
They cannot take I from I
03 Irreversal (04:17)
Look behind what lies on the surface rituals to read the signs
signify the life I leave behind... behind, Lies set me free,
Release me, Embrace me, Cleanse me I am not alone something so much
Greater than I look behind what lies on the surface humbled soul to reveal
A purpose outstratched arms to welcome the sacrifice of this body
04 Rusted Embrace (04:25)
gazing at the horizon
lost in the cryptic majesty
gazing at the horizon
so lost
what have we done a slowly - DYING
earth a suffocated - WASTELAND
for convenience and so called
progression...
visions of prophecy
faces pushed IN THE EARTH
so long
what have we done a slowly - DYING
earth a suffocated - WASTELAND
for convenience and so called
progression...
NOTHING WILL CHANGE
unless we INFLICT
TRANSITION
praying on bended knees (empty)
closed eyes can not see (empty)
praying on bended knees (empty)
is there still - time...
the sands of time - SLIPPING
through!...
...our - FINGERS
[is there still time, still - time, is there still time]
gazing at the horizon
lost in the cryptic majesty
gazing at the horiZON
(lost)so lost
what have we done a slowly - DYING
a suffocated - WASTELAND
for convenience and so called
progression...
NOTHING WILL CHANGE
unless we INFLICT
TRANSITION
praying on bended knees (empty)
closed eyes can not see (empty)
praying on bended knees (empty)
is there still - time...
the sands of time - SLIPPING
through!...
...our - FINGERS
is there still time (is there still time??! aah) is there still time... (is there still time, is there still time? IS THERE STILL TIME?!)
BURNED AND RAPED THE NAME OF HUMA-NI-TY I PRAY FOR DEATH OF YOUR RE-LEASE!
06 Soilborn (03:27)
Time will not stand still
Today is the day the day of salvation
Living for more than just a synthetic force fed existence
This is my disposition I will strive for the thruth
This is my disposition I will strive for integrity
Time will not stand still
We are the soilborn we are the children soilborn
Washed in blood because we are blind
We must not take this life for granted
In this everlasting thirst to mantain vitality
This is my disposition I will strive to find rebirth
Today is the day of salvation
Life has only just begun today is the day
08 In the Unblind (02:52)
Separation from the faceless majority step on the outside
Look on the inside tear tear it apart, A prisoner only in your own mind
Individuality will bring you life time to rise above to freedom
So much love lost, What have we become rise against the oppresion,
Resist and question burn the system kill the system kill the mindstate
Of indifference step into the unblind reclaim your life
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