Quarta-feira 2 Jul 2014, 17h:21
Killswitch Engage. The first major headliner I had to pleasure to see live in concert (I think it was back in January 2007 with Bring Me The Horizon and The Haunted). One of the most influential bands for the development of the whole Metalcore genre. Formative for the evolution of my musical taste (let's face it, KSE is one of the few bands whose member's names I know): Their sophomore album Alive or Just Breathing was one of the first metal records I owned. Especially Jesse Leach's vocals stood out for me. I can still remember arguing with a couple of friends whether Alive or Just Breathing or its successor The End of Heartache featuring the new vocalist Howard Jones was superior - an argument that probably will never end. Howard Jones did an amazing job on the End of Heartache and Killswitch's fourth album As Daylight Dies. However their second self-titled album in 2009 was a dissappointment to me. I don't remember it to be particularly bad however the fact that I cannot recall any of the songs from this album speaks for itself. So when Jesse rejoined KSE after Howard's departure and a new album with him on vocal duty was announced I was pretty stoked. This album shall be the focus of today's review: Killswitch Engage's Disarm The Descent
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After this lengthy introduction let us face the facts: I did not like this album. I loved what Jesse and Adam Dutkiewicz did with Times of Grace but after the first two listening sessions I was dissappointed once more. Sure it sounded like Killswitch, sure Jesse's vocals reminded me of AOJB, but the songs did not connect for me. Aside from Turning Point the album sounded just boring to me. So I put it aside. For months. Might have even been a year. Some weeks ago I gave it another chance. And it swept me off my feet. Suddenly every song showed me something special: The catchy chorus in In Due Time, the super-fast blastbeats during The Call, A Tribute To The Fallen's amazing guitar solo, the spoken words part during You Don't Bleed For Me , the album's only (!) generic breakdown at the end ofNo End in Sight (being the only one that just jumps at you really makes it work very well), the gang shouts in The New Awakening or the brutal first forty seconds of Turning Point. Just to name a few. However these things themselves would not make Disarm the Descent the great album that it is. Two other things are responsible for this. Firstly the song-writing is exceptional. It feels like every riff, every solo, every drum-fill is in the right place. But while the same thing can be said for tech-monsters like Necrophagist, these bands usually end up with a rather 'cold' and 'clinical' feel to their songs. Killswitch managed to create a rather 'warm' and 'lively' sound. Aside from the song-writing this is in considerable amount due to Jesse's positive lyrics. Which leads us to his outstanding vocal performance. Not only does he show a wide range of vocals he perfectly nails every (!) single note. If you have not been convinced of this guy's talents just listen to Jesse's live performance of My Curse which can be found as a bonus track on the limited edition. (And when you do: keep in mind that this song was written for Howard.) Combine his performance with Adam D's backing vocals and Disarm the Descent offers a flawless approach on how to mix melody and brutality in the vocals department.
Granted the album gets a bit weaker towards the ending and the two songs exclusive to the limited edition cannot quite keep up. Still Disarm the Descent marks Killswitch Engage's impressive return to old strength and might just be the best album since Alive or Just Breathing.
1. The Hell in Me *****
2. Beyond The Flames *****
3. The New Awakening *****
4. In Due Time *****
5. A Tribute To The Fallen *****
6. Turning Point *****
7. All We Have *****
8. You Don't Bleed For Me *****
9. The Call *****
10. No End in Sight ****
11. Always ****
12. Time Will Not Remain ***
13. Blood Stains ***
14. Slaves To The Machine ***
15. Numbered Days (Live 2014)
16. My Curse (Live 2014)
Note: I do not include live tracks into the overall rating.
Overall Rating: 4.4/5.0