Killswitch Engage - As Daylight Dies Review
Posted by Brandon Ratliff on 01.24.2007
As daylight dies...it gets cold and I have to turn my car's headlights on. Yep.
Killswitch Engage – As Daylight Dies
Release Date: November 21, 2006
Label: Roadrunner Records
Produced By: Adam Dutkiewicz
First Single: My Curse
Recommended Downloads: This Is Absolution, My Curse, For You
Killswitch Engage is:
Vocals: Howard Jones
Guitar/Vocals: Adam Dutkiewicz
Guitar: Joel Stroetzel
Bass: Mike D’Antonio
Drums: Justin Foley
Tracklisting
1. Daylight Dies
2. This Is Absolution
3. The Arms Of Sorrow
4. Unbroken
5. My Curse
6. For You
7. Still Beats Your Name
8. Eye Of The Storm
9. Break The Silence
10. Desperate Times
11. Reject Yourself
Despite being around what seems like forever, this is only Killswitch Engage’s fourth album, third for Roadrunner Records, and second with vocalist Howard Jones and drummer Justin Foley (both of whom came from the band Blood Has Been Shed). If that isn’t enough facts for you, Killswitch Engage formed in 1998 from the ashes of the influential hardcore bands Overcast (bassist Mike D’Antonio), and Aftershock (guitarists Stroetzel and Dutkiewicz, who played drums at the time). They recruited vocalist Jesse Leach and released their self-titled debut on Ferret Music shortly thereafter. After making waves in the underground, Roadrunner Records took notice and signed the band, releasing Alive Or Just Breathing in 2002. No sooner had the band started to pick up major steam that Leach called it quits. Yes, there was tension in the band, but the biggest reason being that he was untrained in screaming and blew out his vocal chords. Or so he says. Drummer Tom Gomes departed soon after as well, at which time Howard Jones, newly christened vocalist of the band, got in touch with the drummer from his former band, Justin Foley.
Back at a full lineup, the band began recording what would become 2004’s The End Of Heartache, which was released in April 2004, debuting at #21 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. The record just recently went gold, for moving over 500,000 copies. The title track also received a Grammy nod in 2004 for Best Metal Performance, which the band did not win.
Enough of that. It is now 2007…which means I’m a little late on the review. So sue me. I paid my own money for this album (which doesn’t happen too often) and I’m not getting paid for this job. Anyways, on with the show.
Opting to start the album with the kind-of-a-title-track-but-not-technically, things are started a little different for the band this time around. What starts as kind of ambient noise builds into a slow guitar riff with some chanting over it, which in turn leads way to the loud and very in-your-face verse. While I liked the song, unlike A Bid Farewell from The End Of Heartache, this song was the perfect choice to open the album, as it sets the pace for things to come. I also heard that this was being used already as the (as of yet) unofficial second single, but I was unable to confirm that. It would, however, fit the role. As the song fades out and we get into This Is Absolution, fans of Alive Or Just Breathing will feel right at home. You’ll notice as the songs progress that the band seems much more musically comfortable together (or, the guitar trio is more comfortable with Jones and Foley, as the case may be) than they did on The End Of Heartache. They sound much tighter and much more in unison on As Daylight Dies.
Another thing that will quickly stand out is the band took everything they did on the last album and turned it up a couple of notches. The melody is catchier, the heavy stuff is heavier, and the breakdowns are meatier. Howard Jones improved his vocal dynamics quite a bit as well, which is very evident on tracks such as the lead single My Curse. He manages to switch from bellowing roar, blood curdling scream, and soaring singing even more seamlessly than ever before. Dutkiewicz’s backup vocals are a little more present also; after all, it wouldn’t be Killswitch Engage without his trademark vocals peppering the songs.
As for the songs, there are several different styles evident on the album, as the band chooses not to be content with sticking to one general sound for more than one given song. For You is a lesson in odd timings and off beats (think Incubus’ “Nice To know You”), Eye Of The Storm is probably one of the heaviest cuts…not just on the album mind you, but ever. By the band that is. The metallic anthem Unbroken comes close to that mark as well.
If there is one problem with this album though, it is the exact same problem they had on The End Of Heartache, which is that it seems to come a little short of where the band was aiming. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something seems to just be…missing. And that’s what I can’t seem to understand. As I mentioned earlier, there is more of everything than before: melody, heaviness, chunky, memorable riffing, everything. But, the one thing all of the fans I have spoke to have all agreed on (yes, I do factor what other people think into my reviews), is while this is definitely Killswitch Engage’s strongest album to date, it just feels like turning the volume up to nine…you’re almost there at the peak, but you can definitely notice that you are just at that "not quite loud enough" point. Does that make sense?
Another minor complaint I have to mention is the Target version of the album with the extra track on it. The extra song is solid, but it messes up the pacing of the album horribly as it completely does not fit at the end of the album after the excellent Reject Yourself. That song was intended to close the album, but another song shows up and feels, well, exactly what it is, which is very tacked on. Albums with “bonus tracks” have plagued from this in the past however (see many of the Fear Factory albums that have been re-released, namely Obsolete), so I suppose it shouldn’t be a huge surprise.
As Daylight Dies is definitely Killswitch Engage’s best album to date as they bring everything they are good at in spades, but one can’t help but to wonder what it is exactly that makes the album seem to be just a little shy at achieving greatness. Will the album stand the test of time and be well received even a few years from now (I say this because of the fact, that personally, The End Of Heartache is starting to show its age)? It’s very likely that it will, but only time will tell. And what of Killswitch Engage? Well, they’ll go out and tour their collective asses off for two years, and then go make another album. But will that one have that little extra something that is apparently missing here? Well, only time…yeah, you get the idea.
The 411: Likely the best album from Killswitch Engage, As Daylight Dies takes everything that The End Of Heartache did well and improves on it drastically. While the latter is beginning to show its age, the former will likely be getting plays for years to come. There is a little something missing that is holding the album back from being as good as it could possibly be, but whatever that is, it’s not very apparently. It is definitely noticeable however. Still, don’t let that fool you; Killswitch Engage delivered the proverbial goods with As Daylight Dies, now it’s just a matter of seeing how well the songs work in a live situation. Pick this one up.
