I like it. Quite a bit better than the last album with Jones, I feel. Plus it's just cool to hear Jesse on a recorded KSE song again.

If it wasn't for the shouting it'd be a decent pop song I guess.

I used to be a big fan of the mid to late 90s and 2000-2003 Massachusetts metalcore scene. You know, stuff like Overcast, early Shadows Fall and of course Killswitch Engage. In my opinion, 'Alive or Just Breathing' is by far the most influential metalcore album ever made. Whether that's a good or bad thing, it's up to you to squabble over. Anyway, all this drivel is indeed leading somewhere. I love the Leach era of KSE and to hear him reunite with the band and make new music is great for the fans. More than just the quality of his vocals, Leach was always a better song writer. His lyrics were way less emo-er (is that the right word?) than the Howard songs and focused more on positive attitudes, life's struggles etc...Regarding the track, I think it's pretty good and catchy. I'm looking forward to the new album.

PS. As of now and with all the other stuff I listen to, KSE is probably the only -core band I can stand. The rest of the genre can suffer a genocide for all I care

Less angsty I think is the right word. Howard's lyrics were always whining about some kind of lost relationship or whatnot, while Leach is more about everyone needing to come together rather than squabble individually.

I swear it's maybe because I heard so much of Times of Grace (which I love), but I didn't mind this song. It's ok, harmless alternative rocky metalcore with screams and gushing melodeath. Jesse sounds fantastic (his clean voice), so it's good that they're still able to work it in faithfully. Both of Howard's styles were always off to me.

It sounds like the Killswitch Engage we all have come to know. Its not as aggressive as anything off Alive Or Just Breathing or The End Of Heartache even but oh well. This could of easily been a Howard song. No harm, No Foul I guess. A little bit of the little kid in side of me was hoping they would bring back some more of their extreme influences but I should of known better. But who knows, this is just the first official single so maybe their will be more promising material. I think this song just serves as a good reality check for any one expecting a return to form type of deal with the return of Jesse Leach.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I might even have to check out the album when it drops!

pretty shitty second-rate melodic death with emo vocals

The opening was quite decent, to be honest. But then the vocals started, and..... Yeah.

Run of the mill metalcore, but still leagues better than anything they did with Howard. Also way better than the ever-popular teen angst/"brocore" bands parading around. This song ain't bad, but I'll have to hear a few more before deciding on the purchase. Alive or Just Breathing will always have a place in my collection.

Eh it's okay for KSE. I will admit to liking them once several years ago, but not since The End of Heartache.

It had a cool enough opening riff. I was actually pretty interested during that. The vocals came in and I cringed a little. Then the clean singing came in and I tried to tough it out, but I did not last. I'll never be able to stomach singing like that, I guess. Its just horrendously cheesy.

You know what's the worst part, Crick? That the guy is actually a decent clean singer. The problem is that the melodies are fucking sappy.

Didn't like this band when they came out, didn't like when they butchered Dio, hearing this... sounds just like everything else I've heard from them. Trite boring safe shit.

Man, his clean vocals are still good, but his throat-ripping screams are half the reason I love early KSE!

To be honest, Howard's excellent clean vocals were the only thing I enjoyed about this band, and were the sole reason I listen to his trilogy of albums. I really hate Jesse's vocals, and the music is not even close to interesting enough to pull me in by itself, so unfortunately, this just sounds bad to my ears.

It's the single. You shouldn't be expecting a "heavy" song. While I do like how Jesse's clean vocals have improved, I'm not a big fan of how his harsh vocals sound nowadays. They just don't have the punch that they did on the first 2 KsE albums. It probably has something to do with him finally learning how to scream properly.

I do agree that the lyrics during the chorus are cheesy as fuck.

I'm actually a fan of most metal core and I've always thought this band was garbage. That was back then so they could only have gotten worse

Solid song, the guitar sound is a step above their second self-titled - still doesn't match the raw ferocity of AOJB or their debut, though.

I like Jesse's vocals a whole lot better than Howard's vocals. He nails it on this song. I was hoping for some of the same uplifting energy found on the Times of Grace album to appear here as well. It does, though not quite as much. It's there though.

Another new song, this time called "The New Awakening". I like it well enough. Too early to tell if I like it more than In Due Time though.

The thing about killswitch is they waste so much potential. Howard Jones is an awesome clean singer, but most of the time he's doing that annoying tough guy metalcore yelp rather than doing actual harsh vocals (he's capable of them, he does a few impressive screams in 'the end of heartache' album) and when he does sing cleany he has a really annoying whiny undertone to his voice.

As far as the riffwork on this goes, the opening riff is actually pretty cool, but it's trashed after the intro for generic groovy chugging. In any case I don't see this as any kind of radical departure from their sound; they've ind of been coasting since their influential albums.

Umm. This song was relatively more aggressive than 'In Due Time' but it terms of melodies, it didn't sound great. The bit before the bridge-solo-part was just boring and monotonous. A slight disappointment from the previously released song but still looking forward to the album.

http://gunshyassassin.com/news/listen-t ... ecord-now/

Album's up for streaming. Only on the first song so far.

EDIT: Best way to describe this album now that I'm deeper into it is a mixture of Alive or Just Breathing's harder edge and the more poppy song structures of the Howard Jones albums. Special mention goes to "All That We Have", which is just this thrashing storm of a song for the first half.

Just gave the new album a listen courtesy of the full album stream made available by the band. It's a good return for Jesse Leach, though he's vocals aren't as "chaotic" as what he did when he was with the band earlier.
Will categorise this as something i would call, "easy listening". It's all good though..

I'm only a couple of songs in, but it's interesting so far. The aggressive bits have sounded good, and Leach can still scream well enough, but I was shocked by how different his clean vocals sound!

The way the scream in "A Tribute To The Fallen" leads into the solo is excellent.

I agree with the sentiment that it is typical form for Killswitch Engage. Which is to say that it's good, if unremarkable, not terribly complex, and easily consumable. Leach's vocals add to, and make more apparent, the hardcore edge, and I appreciate his rawer scream, though I feel that his cleans are inferior to that of Jones. It feels altogether underwhelming after you've just come from listening to the likes of As I Lay Dying and Psychotic Pulse; the sound just isn't as thick or heavy as some of the more extreme acts in their genre, and I can see at this point why a lot of people on this forum are turned off by their penchant for breakdowns, which, in this case, are volatile since they can break the flow of a given track (the aforementioned bands know better how to avoid this). In general, it just doesn't represent much of an evolution for them, and it almost feels as if they're taking great pains to play it safe with the return of Leach. Nevertheless, it does get progressively better as it goes along. Otherwise, I'll say that I like it, while not quite loving it. Overall, a solid release.

It's a disappointment only if you were expecting a second Alive or Just Breathing, especially with the return of Jesse Leach and the stellar album Leach and Dutkiewicz put out with Times of Grace and the 10th anniversary of AoJB tour where the band played AoJB in its entirety. Those three factors forecast a phenomenal release by Killswitch Engage and that simply did not happen. However, it's not a bad album by any stretch. It's better than their previous album - and I do like that album. I can't say if it's better than As Daylight Dies (that album has a particular nostalgia factor as it was released toward the end of 2006 and around the time when I first got to see Killswitch Engage, one of my favorite shows I've ever been to). Killswitch Engage fans will like it, while those who dislike Killswitch Engage will probably not be won over by Disarm the Descent.

Vocal wise I think Jesse Leach is better than Jones. Not by much - when I first got into Killswitch Engage I didn't know there was a different vocalist between Alive or Just Breathing and The End of Heartache. Of course I can discern the two by ear much better these days.

The album was ok. Leach and D. ruled with the Times of Grace album. That's the best "positivity" album I've ever heard. Not much of a KsE fan at all though I did appreciate the first two albums in my early metal days. Heard this album in full and it just feels super tame. They could have gone the full stretch like they did with Hymn of a Broken Man: powerful, emotional, endearing, and more. Instead, they put the wheels on and rode the rails of metalcore. Leach himself doesn't even put in a kickass performance for most of the album. I still prefer his voice (his clean one), since I always thought Howard's was... awkward. Some songs on the album like the last two rule hard. The album also didn't need to have as many tracks as it does. Also, they need to write riffs with more EDGE to them. If they want to still be metalcore, but pack some kind of punch, then they need to take a note from a band like AILD.

Something close to AILD with Leach on vocals would be fucking awesome.

The album is alright. It's not as annoyingly generic as the last Killswitch record was, but it's not a brilliant return to a past form either. It sits in the middle between the harder edge of Alive or Just Breathing and the more standard melodic metalcore of the Howard Jones albums, with some songs veering much closer to the former than the latter. I still can't stand Jesse's lyrics though; they're still as hamfisted and corny as they were on the Times of Grace album, and that was my only real problem with that record.

Overall, it's good, but not amazing. At least it's better than KSE II was.