As Daylight Dies (CD - 2006)

Killswitch Engage: Howard Jones (vocals); Mike D'Antonio (bass guitar); Adam Dutkiewicz, Justin Foley , Joel Stroetzel .

Personnel: Adam Dutkiewicz (vocals, guitar); Howard Mumford Jones (vocals); Joel Stroetzel (guitar); Justin Foley (drums).

Audio Mixer: Adam Dutkiewicz.

Recording information: Longview Farm (2006); Zing Studios, Westfield, MA (2006).

Photographer: Daragh McDonagh.

The fourth full-length from post-hardcore metal outfit Killswitch Engage steps up the already stellar caliber of the punishing music featured on their prior releases. In fact, AS DAYLIGHT DIES weighs in as one of the group's best releases, showing off their increasingly dazzling technical prowess and musical sophistication while never compromising their relentless attack.

That Killswitch Engage is able to mix melody with their sonic wallop is one of the band's greatest assets, and a song like "This Is Absolution," which alternates stomping screamo with a soaring singalong anthem, is a case in point. Vocalist Howard Jones can switch from subhuman roars to melodic metal singing in the blink of an eye, and the band, likewise, can drop into various meters, blaze through textured riffs, and create sledgehammer rhythms that thunder and crush. These qualities will be familiar to Killswitch fans, but the band just does everything better on AS DAYLIGHT DIES, turning in one of the most accomplished metal releases of 2006.

Ever since Killswitch Engage lead vocalist Howard Jones began alternating his sung voice with his screamed one, the band's depth and dimension grew exponentially. There's plenty of brutal, pummeling death metal, blastbeats and the like, but there is texture in the attack too. This is a band who has been consistent in their approach, and in delivering the goods, but As Daylight Dies is perhaps their strongest moment so far. The songs are dynamite: check the combination of texture, riffs and melody in "This Is Absolution"; by the time they get to the chorus, it's all over; an anthem. The unbridled chaos of "Unbroken" reveals that they haven't traveled far from their roots; in fact, they've dug deeper, if that's possible, despite becoming better musicians. "Eye of the Storm" is just over the top. This is the sound of both the Apocalypse and the Second Coming rolled into one. The tight, turn on a dime stops and starts in the verse and the all-out roar of the refrains and the guitar break are the stuff of heavy metal legend. If the cynics don't get it by now, they never will. For the rest, this is the album to come into the tent with. Mastodon may have convinced just about everyone with Blood Mountain, but this is a Top Five metal candidate of 2006 for sure. ~ Thom Jurek minimize