It's been six years since Killswitch Engage released Atonement, marking their longest gap between albums by far. The pandemic during that period appears to have been on vocalist Jesse Leach’s mind during the crafting of the band’s ninth album. He’s spoken about his consequent mental struggles, his initial rage and frustration turning to sadness and despair at the fractured state of the world. That journey can be heard throughout This Consequence. Jesse expresses feelings of loneliness and abandonment with furious anger, before calls for humanity to unite and heal come soaring in. His lyrics can often be cloaked in metaphor, but his passionate delivery always connects deeply, and here he’s sparked the strongest KSE album in well over a decade.
The opening Abandon Us is classic Killswitch – all metallic hardcore riffs, rhythms that will get you spin-kicking around your bedroom and some brilliantly bold, chest-beating vocals. But Jesse’s enraged, impassioned referencing of all he had being ‘turned to dust’ and being ‘left to bleed’ elevates the song and steals the show.
Jesse has rarely sounded as seething and fucked off as he does here. Even in the melodic sections, he sounds like his brain is about to combust, each syllable spat out with a ruthlessness you can’t help but be swept up by. The death metal vocals on Collusion make David Vincent sound like Sabrina Carpenter. Jesse Leach is on one, and it slaps.
Of course, this would mean little if the rest of the band didn’t match their vocalist. When KSE step up their trademark metalcore a notch, as on the grinding, thrashing opening of The Fall Of Us, it’s as heavy as they’ve ever sounded. If you were told Discordant Nation was Cannibal Corpse with Jesse guesting, you wouldn’t have blinked. There’s even a NOLA sludge and Alice in Chains mash- up, Broken Glass, which is suffocatingly heavy and achingly melodic.
While this is unquestionably the hardest, often darkest and most frenzied Killswitch album in some time, their belief in affirmation and self-betterment remains. Jesse continues to be a force for good in the metal scene, and has always preached strength through unity. His stirring call of ‘I believe, there is hope for better days’ on I Believe shows that a positive core and desire for solidarity remains a key part of his identity. After a couple of decent albums and a huge break before this one, you’d be forgiven for worrying that Killswitch Engage might enter into a period of diminishing returns. But This Consequence sees them roaring back to classic form, possibly even heavier, just as emotionally raw, and still the leaders of the metalcore pack. It’s a pleasure to have them back.
This Consequence is out this Friday, February 21 . Order our exclusive Killswitch Engage bundle featuring a limited edition t-shirt design via the official Metal Hammer store.
