Killswitch Engage have been producing their brand of motivating, energy-packed melodic metalcore for over 25 years now. In that time, the band have proved their resilience and garnered a committed fanbase which has seen them reach new heights in recent years, from winning a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Metal Performance to headlining their first open air festival at Bloodstock in 2023. As someone who grew up with Killswitch making up a huge part of my music collection during my adolescence and early twenties, I’ve always admired how a band who have stuck with the same formula for songwriting and managed to maintain their musicianship to the same standard throughout their career. The band’s last release Atonement in 2019 did however have some exciting moments with the record’s first single “The Signal Fire” featuring former vocalist Howard Jones in what felt like a welcoming addition to the record. Six years later and Killswitch look to maintain that classic 2000s metalcore style with This Consequence, and whilst experimentation evidently might not be their strongest point, the aggressive nature of this new record is certainly a throwback to the Alive of Just Breathing days.
The opening track “Abandon Us” immediately emphasises the record’s aggressive nature, providing a throwback to the band’s early days with Jesse’s raw vocal delivery and hard-hitting simple riffs offer a stripped-back, old-school Killswitch style. In a similar fashion, “Discordant Nation” is a ruthlessly short track with typical brutal verse structures and soaring melodic choruses that one might expect from that beauty and the beast approach in much of the 2000s metalcore. Offering some dynamic range, “Aftermath” sees the band shift between a ballad-like progression with more emphasis on melody, weighty hooks and hard-hitting bridge sections that filter in to add more emotional depth to the incoming choruses.
“Forever Aligned” appears as a something of a first-era Jesse Killswitch song, with that brutish hardcore vocal delivery, powerful riffs and Adam D’s mounting harmony lines. Certainly, a crowd pleaser for the band which offers something of a radio friendly element from the rip-roaring chorus whilst the bare aggro of the guitar riffs maintain the track’s rawness. The next track “I Believe”, however, leans more on the radio friendly side that the previous track tries to establish, this song opts to go down this anthemic route and clearly establishes itself as the mass appealing single track to garner a broader audience.
Much of the rest of the album’s runtime continues down this groove focused, heavier pace that exchanges hard-hitting verses and melodic, hook-filled choruses. “Where It Dies” and “Collusion” highlight Killswitch Engage‘s conventional songwriting formula with precision and a sense of sincerity where the artist’s really attempt to show off their best attributes such as Jesse’s low gutturals and Adam and Joel’s twin leads that make use of pinch harmonics and dual harmony lines. The closing tracks also have their moments, like “The Fall of Us” making use of more extreme metal instrumental work, having a razor-sharp death metal style riff quality and intense blast beat fills in place for the track’s bridge sections. “Broken Glass” further utilises those intense blast beats whilst taking things in a more hardcore punk-influenced direction producing fierce pummelling intensity and some distinguishable bass lines at times. The final track “Requiem” gives off a nostalgic ‘American Wave of Heavy Metal’ kind of interpretation with shining influences of Lamb of God and August Burns Red heavily present in the main riffs, this record feels like a throwback to the band’s roots, and it’s done with utmost integrity avoiding the clichés that one might expect.
Killswitch Engage are one of those bands where you either dig them for what they do or perhaps it’s just not for you. But what is clear after 25 years is that this is a band that has never been unsure of their style, their sound, or their identity and are still going strong to this day. They might not offer any new distinctive features or explore uncommon ground with each release, yet they have a songwriting formula that works for them, and they have always poured their heart and soul into everything they produce ensuring their music never grows stale. For a band that can consistently deliver music that remains true to its roots and does not divert too far away from the original style yet still has the ability to carry momentum is something of an underrated achievement that not many from the same era as Killswitch have been able to do themselves.
