By John Ruffino (March 4, 2002)

Hailing from Massachusetts, Killswitch Engage has released an amazing metalcore CD entitled "Alive or Just Breathing." I bought this CD at a concert they opened for this past November and have been listening to it non-stop since November – it’s a masterpiece. 

Killswitch Engage blends parts of three of my favorite bands and creates something legendary. The vocalist, Jesse David Leach, has such a good voice for this band; it is very similar to that of Jamie Jasta from Hatebreed, another amazing band. The powerful vocals really make the CD stand out from other metalcore/hardcore bands because of its melody. The guitarists, Adam Dutkiewicz and Joel Stroetzel are outstanding on the CD. The speed, precision of the notes, and the artificial harmonics are definitely comparable to bands like The Haunted, At the Gates, In Flames, Hatebreed, and Shadows Fall. This CD gets becomes even better when it's louder. You really need to hand it to Killswitch.

"Alive or Just Breathing" is very emotional and it is easy to understand the mood of each song, each song emits feelings and emotions as if it were alive. This album contains many positive metal aspects: heavy riffs, double bass drumming, and nothing "nu-metal" about it (thank god). For those of you who don’t know what nu-metal is, it is an infectious outbreak of bands like Linkin Park, Korn and many other useless bands that are poisoning the metal genre with their non-metal garbage. 

I had never heard of Killswitch Engage until I saw them open for In Flames back in November at Jaxx in Springfield. They had me as a fan after they played the first note. They were truly awesome, I honestly would have rather seen them play for another half-hour and take away some time from In Flames. I instantly bought a CD, and had it signed by the singer after the set. Not only are they awesome live, but they are really nice guys, I talked to four of them after they played, and they were very cool. They didn’t stay backstage like most bands, they came out and watched the concert with all of the fans.

Anyway, "Alive or Just Breathing," in my opinion, is quite possibly one of the best releases of the year. Killswitch has raised the standards for the genre; everything after this release has some large shoes to fill if it’s going to even try to compete. If you are into metal music or hardcore music definitely check out Killswitch Engage.
Check them out at:

www.killswitchengage.com