Music United conducted an interview with guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz and vocalist Jesse Leach of Massachusetts metallers Killswitch Engage before the band’s October 30 concert at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois. You can now watch the chat below.
“Disarm The Descent” sold around 48,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 7 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD arrived in stores on April 2 via Roadrunner Records.
“Disarm The Descent” is Killswitch Engage‘s first album with original singer Jesse Leach at the vocal helm since 2002’s now-classic, genre-defining “Alive or Just Breathing”. Leach returned to the band in January 2012 after a decade-long absence. The artwork for the new CD was created by bassist Mike D’Antonio.
In a recent interview with ARTISTdirect, Leach stated about “Disarm The Descent”: “Mike D’Antonio thought up the title ‘Disarm The Descent’ even before I started writing. He approached me with a concept. Initially, it was ‘Disarming The Descent’. After some discussion with him, I said, ‘Let’s just shorten it up.’ I thought it was a great title. We talked about it a bit, and I wrote that at the top of the page and began writing notes from there. It’s kind of a concept record.”
He added: “[The title is] a creative way of saying ‘redemption’ or rising again. You’re in a state of your life where you’re approaching rock bottom and you find a way to pick yourself up again before you hit the floor.”
Asked about his lyrical approach on “Disarm The Descent”, Leach said: “This album is very different from anything I’ve written. That comes from trying to develop as a write over the year. I have a project called The Empire Shall Fall. The last EP we put out was a total concept record where I wrote a short story and we made an album about it. It’s broken down into three parts, and we finished one of the three. It’s a continuing story that will tell a story from start to finish, word for word. I thought it was a cool idea because I’d never written that way. I mixed that idea with my own introspective and cathartic lyrics I did with Times Of Grace. It’s a culmination of the writing I’ve done over the years. I wanted to find a way to blend it all together. Vocally, I’m trying to come up with different sounds of my voice and mix the screaming and yelling. I made an effort to push myself with the writing and vocals.”
Album review quote:
“If you are a long-time fan of Killswitch Engage or like heavy, fast music and are unfamiliar with the metalcore genre, you will enjoy this album. The return of Jesse Leach to vocal duties has not hurt the band at all, and his vocals actually may be better suited for the slightly heavier sound on this album than Howard Jones’.”
For our entire review click here.
Upcoming Shows:
Jan 29 The Academy Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Jan 30 The Limelight Belfast, United Kingdom
Feb 01 Manchester Academy, Manchester, United Kingdom
Feb 02 Brixton O2 Academy, London, United Kingdom
Feb 03 Newcastle O2 Academy, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Feb 04 Glasgow O2 Academy, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Feb 06 Birmingham O2 Academy, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Feb 07 Southampton Guildhall, Southampton, United Kingdom
Mar 07 RAMFest, Cape Town, South Africa
Mar 08 RAMFest, Johannesburg, South Africa
Apr 02 Club Quattro, Nagoya, Japan
Apr 03 Club Quattro, Osaka, Japan
Apr 04 Logos, Fukuoka, Japan
Apr 06 Club Quattro, Hiroshima, Japan
Apr 07 Tokyo Akasaka Blitz, Tokyo, Japan
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Video below “Always”
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