Killswitch Engage - Disarm The Descent

Well the time has come and couldn't be happier to share the news that Killswitch Engage have finally revealed some details surrounding their upcoming (and highly anticipated) album release.  The album is set to be released on April 2nd, 2013 via Roadrunner Records.

Here is the track listing for "Disarm The Descent":

1. The Hell In Me
2. Beyond The Flames
3. New Awakening
4. In Due Time
5. A Tribute To The Fallen
6. The Turning Point
7. All That We Have
8. You Don't Bleed For Me
9. The Call
10. No End In Sight
11. Always
12. Time Will Not Remain




"[The recording process] was great.  I came off tour I was filled with energy, ready to go, we knocked out a bunch of stuff. I had joined the band, the record was there, we're on tour so I really didn't have time to write. I took the past two months not only recording but writing so I'm there with an idea, being in the other room writing and going to Adam saying, 'Here's my idea I just wrote, what do you think?' So there's real spontaneity some of the songs that we just finished up. I had maybe five or six solid ideas when I came off tour and the rest had to be developed as we were recording it. It was exciting but at the same time tough because for me I'm digging deep down into my emotions and my psyche trying to come up with stuff that is honest and emotive and relevant, hopefully for the listener. It's tiring but well worth, anything that's worth achieving you got to suffer a little bit for it. I think mentally and spiritually and a little bit physically we were suffering but all of that made for an amazing record that I'm really proud of.

The music is definitely the fastest KILLSWITCH record ever. It's very heavy but still maintains the signature KILLSWITCH hooky, melodic stuff there, too. There's definitely melody attached, but I pulled out some new styles vocally, yelling and screaming and growling and layers and it sounds massive." -Jesse Leach



Pre-orders are already happening for the new album, along with some goodies for the deluxe packages.  Available for order will be deluxe digital and deluxe CD/DVD editions.  Both will come with alternate artwork and bonus live versions of “Numbered Days” and “My Curse” that were captured during their 2012 touring.



The DVD featured in the deluxe CD/DVD set will be a 30 minute feature about the making of "Disarm The Descent" titled "Killswitch Engage – New Awakening".

More info as it comes in folks!  For now, we got their first review of the album by Metal Injection.  They called what I was afraid would happen.  Personally, a few of the latest albums seemed to flow into each other and hard to distinguish between certain tracks (aka structure of songs seemed to mimic each other).  I will be grabbing a copy and giving a spin numerous times regardless, but here is what MI had to say about the album:

Therein lies my issue with the record: it’s not that I dislike it, and having an abundance of soaring choruses and riffs for days is never a bad thing, but when every single song seems to be the same structure and rely on the same components to make the song distinguish itself from the rest, it just gets kind of boring. It all boils down to sweet riffs and Leach screaming bloody murder in the verse, clean vocals with guitar melodies in the chorus, and then some halftime stuff thrown in there and maybe a solo. If you've heard the single "In Due Time" then you already get what this record is all about. I get that bands have their own sound and that they’re going to adhere to that throughout their career to some degree, but variety certainly isn’t going to kill them either.



That being said, the band does perform exceptionally well on the record. Naturally all the riffs, melodies and solos are top-notch in all their semi-technicality and shreddiness, the rhythm section provides an extremely solid foundation for what the guitars are doing with an unwavering steadiness, and Leach has never sounded better. In fact, I would venture to say that hype aside, Leach is the star of this record. His growls and screams cover the spectrum of that style really well, and his cleans and harmonies are really creative and catchy. The production does the music justice as well, adding to the focused heaviness the album by bringing out what each instrument is doing without getting in the way of each other… awesome.

Read the full review here.