Killswitch Engage

Killswitch Engage is the debut by Killswitch Engage, formed in Westfield, Massachusetts. Starting up in 1999 around members of Overcast and Aftershock, they fused the riffs of Swedish melodic death metal with hardcore to lay a cornerstone for the style known as metalcore. This is the band's only release on Ferret Music. The band wrote the music before settling on a singer, later recruiting Jesse Leach of Nothing Stays Gold. The album's first-written song, "Soilborn," took shape in the band's very first jam session. Within the raw recording, riffs and melodies that hint at what they would become are etched. Jesse Leach handles vocals, and guitarist Adam D also doubled as drummer and producer. Songs where aggression and lyricism intersect line up, like "Temple from the Within," "Vide Infra" and "Soilborn." Still rough, it is a record that remains highly regarded as an important work from the dawn of metalcore. It earned a re-release five years after its original pressing, unusual for a metalcore album of the time.