Kingcrimsonprog Well it’s been nine years since Howard joined Killswitch Engage, and seven years since 2004′s ‘End Of Heartache,’ so all the initial feelings of the lineup change can be laid to rest and we can all look back with fresh eyes at an absolute genre classic. Great music, great vocals and great production, The End Of Heartache has it all.

Chugging riffs, uplifting guitar harmonies, catchy choruses and heavy double kick drum filled verses have always been the Killswitch sound, but that style sounds particularly fresh and inventive here. The music is so well written, thoughtful and just plain good that it’s not hard to see why the bands are so successful. The production is also amazing, which is especially impressive when you think that it was self produced, with guitarist Adam D handling a lot of the responsibilities in the studio.

We all remember what an upset was created back when Howard joined the band but newcomers will likely wonder what all the fuss was about, with a singer this talented it’s really difficult to find fault. Howard Jones quite simply has one of the best voices in metal, an absolutely majestic singing voice and all the furious bark and shout you would expect for the heavy sections. The integration of Howard’s outstanding vocals into the band’s perfect light and shade formula make Killswitch Engage one of the most vital and important bands out there. Sure, the vocal style isn’t identical to Alive or Just Breathing and you may notice a slight change in how things are done however, you still get Adam D’s excellent backing vocals so the change is not as extreme as it could have been. Former vocalist, Jesse Leach, even appears on `Take This Oath,’ delivering both a message of `no hard feelings,’ and a fantastic vocal performance.

Adam and Joel have a really enjoyable style of playing that mixes Fear Factory influenced playing with twin guitar harmonies in a very particular fashion that not many bands can successfully replicate; heavy, full of catchy staccato rhythms and laced in melody and emotion. The album contains a lot of the finest work Killswitch have ever done and of course the concert favourite singles `End of Heartache’ and `Rose Of Sharyn.’

Standout tracks include the previously mentioned song `Take This Oath,’ the very enjoyable `A Bid Farewell,’ which so perfectly encapsulate that Killswitch style and the really heavy yet typically melodic `When Darkness Falls.’

The End Of Heartache is a undeniably classic album, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

UMUR "The End of Heartache" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US metalcore act Killswitch Engage. The album was released in May 2004 by Roadrunner Records. It´s the first album to feature drummer Justin Foley ( Adam Dutkiewicz who played the drums on the first two albums by the band, concentrates on the guitar on this album) and new lead vocalist Howard Jones who replaces Jesse David Leach.

The music on "The End of Heartache" is, like most metalcore releases, a combination of many genres and playing styles, like Swedish melodeath, Fear Factory influenced brick heavy chugging precision riffing and NU-metallic flair for accessible pop choruses. Killswitch Engage are just about the epitome of what the term metalcore means to me. While the genre seems to have degenerated and spawned one generic clone after another in the last 5 years, there are still quality acts that stand out from the rest and Killswitch Engage are definitely among those acts.

The 12 track, 42:36 minute long album features nothing but well composed, hook laden and technically well played tracks. The structures of the songs might be a bit too generic vers/ chorus based for my taste and with raw/ screamo type vocals in the verses and clean vocals in the choruses there´s also nothing in that department that stand out from other releases in the genre, but what does stand out is the songwriting, which is simply several levels above what most of the band´s contemporaries are able to produce. After only one spin I was able to remember a couple of the songs and hum the chorus lines and after a couple of more spins I´m able to hum them all. Now that spells quality. Add to that excellent musicianship and a powerful clean production and it´s hard not to be impressed.

"The End of Heartache" is through and through a quality product and while I find the songs to be slightly formulaic and maybe a bit too predictable for my taste, I still think a 3.5 star rating is deserved.

Time Signature Declaration...

Genre: so-called metalcore / modern metal

Ooooh, it's metalcore and we all hate it because it's not true metal. Well, boo-f*cking-hoo, there is no such thing a true metal. Ever since the day of Black Sabbath, heavy metal has been a bastard genre, an algamation of influences from within and beyond rock music, and whenever the genre develops the catalyst is usually an injection of inspiration from beyond its boundaries. Metal is a dynamic, ever changing genre, and the likes of Killswitch Engage and other so-called metalcore, just carry on this tradition by importing elements from hardcore punk (something which is not a new tendency, the cross-over bands already did that in the late 80s, and Brats combined punk and metal already in 1980), and "End of Heartache" certainly deserves the "metal" tag.

I don't care what people might think. I think it's a great album, full of amazing metal songs that draw on the vast corpus of metal music that came before it including thrash metal riffage, 80s metal guitar harmonies, melodeath screaming, alternative metal grooving and so on, death metal blastbeats, pop metal ballading, progressive metal quirks and so on. The metalcore conventions are there, such as the breakdowns (but Killswitch don't overdo them) and the oscillation between screamed, growled and clean vocals - but that does not matter, because Howard Jones is an incredibly gifted vocalist, and especially his clean voice is breathtakingly haunting.

Stand-out tracks are the groovy, brutal and melodic "A Bid Farewell", the melodeath-like "Take This Oath", the mega hit "Rose of Sharyn", the trashy "Beathe Life", and "Hope Is..."

Recommended to any open-minded fan of metal, who is not afraid of the "metalcore" tag.