Among the bands from the early 2000s that would forever change the metal landscape, there’s no way you can’t bring up Killswitch Engage. The Massachusetts metalcore act introduced a captivating form of heaviness into the world of metal upon their arrival into the scene; they demonstrated a means of taking heavy, hardcore-like instrumentation, and blending it with serene atmospheres, creating material that was both aggressive sounding, yet heartfelt.
While the band released their self-titled debut studio album in 2000, it would be their second studio album that really put them on the map. Alive or Just Breathing released in 2002 and has become a foundational pillar of metalcore. The Killswitch Engage album celebrates its 20th anniversary later this year; we have some cool things in store to celebrate that anniversary when it arrives, but until then, we thought we’d treat readers of The Pit to something special now.
As part of Rhino Records’ Metal March celebration this month, we had the opportunity to talk with none other than Killswitch Engage frontman Jesse Leach. Leach was one of the founding members of Killswitch Engage, but left in the band in 2002, and was replaced by Howard Jones. Leach would eventually rejoin the band back in 2012 and has created three albums since coming back.
In our interview with Leach, which will be broken up across multiple videos, we had the opportunity to talk with him about a variety of subjects. In this first installment of our interview with the Killswitch Engage frontman, we asked him about his all-time favorite Roadrunner Records albums. Along with Alive or Just Breathing, Roadrunner Records is responsible for releasing many albums that would go on to push bands into the greater metal limelight. Many of you metalheads may be surprised (or not) to hear what iconic records Leach is a fan of from Roadrunner.
You can find the first part of our video interview series with Jesse Leach below. Keep a look out for part two of the interview to come later this week!
What are your favorite Roadrunner records?
Also, our friends at Rhino Records are celebrating Metal March this month by going LIVE 🔴 all month long w/ a 24 hour stream of iconic metal tunes, old & new. Listen below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87vPbJtj3gM
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Words by: Michael Pementel
