Killswitch Engage is an American metalcore band from Westfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, bassist Mike D'Antonio, and drummer Justin Foley. Howard Jones was the band's lead vocalist from 2002 to 2012.
Leach was the band's founding vocalist but left after two albums. He was replaced by Jones, and Killswitch Engage rose to fame with its 2004 release The End of Heartache, which peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 shipments in the United States. The title track was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Metal Performance. The band's fourth album, As Daylight Dies, was certified platinum in the US and spawned the platinum-selling single "My Curse". In 2014 they were dubbed the greatest metalcore band of all time by both OC Weekly and Ultimate Guitar.
Jones departed in 2012 and Leach returned to his founding position. Disarm the Descent (2013), the band's first album since Leach's return, went top 10 in the US and featured the Grammy-nominated single "In Due Time". They garnered a third nomination for "Unleashed" in 2020. In addition Killswitch Engage has won multiple Boston Music Awards and Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards. The band's ninth album, This Consequence, was released on February 21, 2025.
History Early years and debut album (1999–2001) Killswitch Engage formed following the disbandment of metalcore bands Overcast and Aftershock in 1999. After Overcast broke up in 1998, bassist Mike D'Antonio collaborated with Aftershock guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. Dutkiewicz, now playing drums, recruited guitarist Joel Stroetzel from Aftershock and vocalist Jesse Leach of the band Nothing Stays Gold (who were signed to a record label owned by Dutkiewicz's brother Tobias, who was also the vocalist in Aftershock) to form a new band, Killswitch Engage. The band's name is derived from an episode of the television series The X-Files entitled "Kill Switch", written by William Gibson, who gave the episode this title after meeting the industrial band Kill Switch...Klick.
In 1999, Killswitch Engage recorded a demo containing four tracks including their first song "Soilborn". The demo was released at the band's first show, opening for melodic death metal act In Flames, in November 1999. In 2000 the band made their first appearances at the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival and Hellfest. Later that same year they released their self-titled debut album. Although initially the album was not a financial success, it attracted the interest of Carl Severson, who worked at Roadrunner Records at the time. Severson handed Killswitch Engage to several Roadrunner representatives. Mike Gitter, a talent agent of the company, contacted D'Antonio, attended several of the band's shows, and offered the band a recording contract with Roadrunner. Believing Roadrunner to have the resources to promote and distribute Killswitch Engage releases, the band accepted his offer, declining several offers from smaller labels.
Lineup changes and Alive or Just Breathing (2001–2004) Ex-Overcast guitarist Pete Cortese briefly joined Killswitch Engage in 2000, but left when he became a father in 2001. Killswitch Engage began writing new material for their second album in November 2001. Mixed in January at Backstage Studios by producer Andy Sneap, the album was titled Alive or Just Breathing, after lyrics in the song "Just Barely Breathing". A music video for the single "My Last Serenade" increased the band's exposure, and the album peaked at number 37 on the Top Heatseekers chart. The band then embarked on their First Nationwide tour in 2002 in support of the album.
Following Alive or Just Breathings release, the band expanded to a fivesome; Dutkiewicz moved to guitar and former Aftershock drummer Tom Gomes filled in the vacant drummer position. After Leach was married on April 20, 2002 and began touring again, he fell into a depression, which affected his performances. Leach's screaming vocals came across more emotionally driven instead of powerful, and while on tour, he would spend long hours in the tour bus only to come out to perform the shows and immediately retreat back to the bus. Leach left the band a few days before Killswitch Engage was meant to play a show and sent the band members an email telling them he had quit. Leach remarked, "I didn't have the mental energy to face them, or even call them on the phone. Rather, I was at a point in my life where I just didn't want to face any of them so I wrote them a long email explaining, like, I'm just done." D'Antonio said in an interview that "after three years of hanging out with the dude, and considering him a brother, to just get an email was a little bit harsh".
The band immediately started to search for a replacement vocalist and found Howard Jones of Blood Has Been Shed. Jones disliked the band's sound when he first heard it. He commented, "I was like, 'Meh.' I come from hardcore and dirtier metal, and Killswitch sounded so clean. But the more I listened to it, I realized there's some really good songs here". After hearing about Leach's vocal problems, Jones contacted the band and was accepted as the replacement. Philip Labonte of All That Remains tried out for lead vocals but lost to Jones, who had to quickly memorize seven songs for his debut at the 2002 Hellfest. Bleeding Through vocalist Brandan Schieppati said that both he and James Hart of Eighteen Visions were also asked to try out for the band in 2002, though Hart denied this.
The new lineup played on the Road Rage tour in Europe in 2002 with 36 Crazyfists and Five Pointe O. Touring continued through the New Year's Day, and in 2003 the first song to feature Jones, "When Darkness Falls", appeared on the soundtrack of the 2003 horror film Freddy vs. Jason. The band also embarked on their first Japanese tour that same year. Following the 2003 Ozzfest, drummer Gomes left the band because he wished to spend more time with his wife, to pursue his band Something of a Silhouette, and because he was tired of touring. He was replaced by Justin Foley of Blood Has Been Shed, and Foley's first tour with the band was the MTV2 Headbangers Ball in 2003.
The End of Heartache (2004–2006) The End of Heartache was released on May 11, 2004, and was the band’s first commercial success with it peaking at number 21 on the Billboard 200 with 38,000 sales in its first week, and it also peaked at number 39 on the Australian Albums Chart. The album went on to sell more than 500,000 copies in the U.S and was certified gold on December 7, 2007. The album received mostly positive reviews, with Jon Caramanica of Rolling Stone calling the album a "stunning collection, retaining much of their signature musical brutality". Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic commented "riffs upon riffs are piled sky-high into each number that follows, it's the unpredictable rhythmic shifts used to build and then relieve internal pressure that fuel the Killswitch Engage power source". Killswitch Engage won top honors for best album at the 2004 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards.
"The End of Heartache" became the main single for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse, and in 2005 the song was nominated for Best Metal Performance for the 47th Grammy Awards. In late 2004, The End of Heartache was re-released as a special edition album, with a second disc featuring various live performances, a Japanese bonus track, and a re-recorded version of "Irreversal". The band also took part in the Jägermeister Tour alongside Slayer. In early 2005, Killswitch Engage took part in the inaugural Taste of chaos tour alongside My Chemical Romance and The Used. During the summer of that same year, the band returned for Ozzfest, and on November 1, 2005, Alive or Just Breathing was re-released as part of Roadrunner Records' 25th anniversary. On November 22, 2005, the live DVD (Set This) World Ablaze was released, which contained a live concert at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts, an hour-long documentary, and all the band's music videos. The DVD was certified gold in the US on April 8, 2006. The End of Heartache is often credited with boosting Killswitch Engage in popularity and establishing them as a household name. Jesse Leach has spotlighted The End of Heartache as the turning point for the band’s global impact. In a 2019 interview, Dutkiewicz stated, “We grew as musicians and band members, and having Howard was such an amazing thing because his pipes are amazing. It was a whole new world that opened up so many possibilities and potentials, so I think we did step it up. It was a good time for us." On December 15, 2005, Jesse Leach reunited with the band to sing "My Last Serenade" alongside Howard Jones at the Roadrunner United concert at the Nokia Theater in New York City.
As Daylight Dies (2006–2007)
Killswitch Engage played the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2006, having already played Australian dates without Dutkiewicz, who was suffering from back problems and needed corrective surgery. On May 23, 2006, the song "This Fire Burns" was released on the WWE Wreckless Intent album. The track was intended to be the new theme song for WWE wrestler Randy Orton; however, it was scrapped and later became the theme song for the WWE Judgment Day 2006 pay-per-view. "This Fire Burns" was used as the entrance theme for WWE wrestler CM Punk (along with his stables the Straight Edge Society and The New Nexus) from 2006 until 2011 and was later re-released as "This Fire" on the As Daylight Dies Special Edition.
Recorded in three months, As Daylight Dies was released on November 21, 2006 and peaked at number 32 on the Billboard 200 chart with 60,000 sales in its first week. As Daylight Dies proved to be one of their biggest albums yet. It also entered the Australian Albums Chart at number 29 and charted in the top 100 in 5 other countries. Mixed by Dutkiewicz, the album received mostly positive reviews—Thom Jurek of Allmusic called it "a Top Five metal candidate for 2006 for sure". Decibel Magazine contributor Nick Terry said "To call As Daylight Dies addictive would be an understatement. That it outdoes its already impressive enough predecessor could almost go without saying". Cosmo Lee of Stylus Magazine commented "the album is astonishingly badly sequenced", though he praised the album as being "less emotionally heavy-handed, and a lot more fun". The album has sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. and was certified platinum on November 23, 2021.
The album's first single, "My Curse", peaked at number 21 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and is featured in the video games Sleeping Dogs, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Burnout Dominator and Burnout Paradise and is available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series. "The Arms of Sorrow" peaked at number 31 on the same chart. The band's cover of Dio's "Holy Diver", originally recorded for a Kerrang! compilation album titled High Voltage, peaked at number 12 on the Mainstream Rock charts. Early in 2007, the band had to cancel three of its European tour dates with The Haunted due to Dutkiewicz's back problems. He required emergency back surgery and was replaced on the tour by Soilwork guitarist Peter Wichers.