TEAM RNS PRESENTS

ARTIST: Killswitch Engage

TITLE: The End Of Heartache

LABEL: Roadrunner Records

RIPPER: Team RNS

256kbps avg - Metal
0hr 42min total- 81.8mb

RELEASE DATE: 2004-05-11
RIP DATE: 2004-03-24

02 Take This Oath                 3:46
03 When Darkness Falls            3:52
04 Rose Of Sharyn                 3:36

07 The End Of Heartache           4:58

10 And Embers Rise                1:11

Here's the real advance, ripped from a
real CD. Scan included for those foolish
enough to doubt us.

Killswitch Engage have not merely
become standard-bearers for GENERATION
HEAVY. With The End of Heartache, the
standard has been pushed aside.
Trampled. Heavy music is, once again,
re-ignited by a band unafraid to rewrite
the rules of the game.

It's all happening just as they've become
reenergized themselves, with new blood
in the band, critical raves that soar
above mere hackneyed "acclaim" and a
hard-earned reputation as one of the
genres best live acts (stemming from
awe-inspiring showings on last summer's
Ozzfest second stage and the fall of
2003s MTV2 Headbangers Ball tour).
"(Ozzfest) was definitely an
experience," wisecracking guitarist Adam
Dutkiewicz says with typical
understatement. "I got a wicked
farmer's tan and was drunk by noon
most days. The response was so good, it
was stupid!" "You never get used to the
fans chanting, it's amazing and
embarrassing at the same time," new
vocalist Howard Jones relays with
genuine humility. "You just want to call
your Mom and be like, 'Listen!'"

Alive or Just Breathing, the band's
Roadrunner debut was called, "more
addictive than crack cocaine thats been
smothered in nicotine AND drenched with
chocolate by CMJ New Music Report and was
a signpost on the bands musical journey
toward their third release, The End of
Heartache. The high-flying guitar
histrionics and unbridled rage on Alives
track, My Last Serenade was balanced by
soaring choruses and a clear handle on
melody that the band takes steps
further on the new album.

The title track is an unabashed monster
of a song, different than anything the
band has ever written. Its epic drive
nearly crosses the border into
power-ballad territory. "Rose of Sharyn"
is an anthem that's heavy in the most
non-traditional of senses, building
with dynamic energy into a crescendo
with a chorus that is perhaps The End
of Heartache's biggest reward. "When
Darkness Falls," heard during the closing
credits of Freddy Vs. Jason, was the
first song Jones ever wrote with the
band and falls right into place on The
End Of Heartache. With "Breathe Life" he
delivers a heartfelt optimism that
really makes the track pop with,
"breathe life/ for you are not alone/
breathe life/ inside your heart of

The current version of Killswitch is
rounded out by original members Mike D
(bass) and Joel Stroetzel (guitar) and
new drummer Justin Foley. Foley comes to
the band via Jones and his other current
project (Blood Has Been Shed). All the
members of this band bring to it a
respectability and integrity that
collectively has made a mark on bands
throughout the heavy music scene. Bands
like THRICE cite Killswitch as an
influence in their liner notes,
guitarist Teppei Teranishi saying I
remember I wrote both those riffs on days
I drove to practice listening to
Killswitch Engage it shows I guess,
referring to his bands track Under A

Mike D designed the albums cover, which
proved to be the guiding force for the
bands songwriting. "The covers of all
the albums are just reflections of my
everyday life," he says. "I had this idea
when my personal life was at its lowest
point. I worked and reworked many times
over, but it was mostly finished last
April. We used it as inspiration for
the lyrics rather than the other way

On The End of Heartache, Howard Jones
makes it abundantly clear that he was
the best choice to take the frontman slot,
thereby enhancing the band. Howard
shines as a frontman and that in turn
gives the rest of us in the band a bit
more confidence," Adam declares. "Now
there can be more antics and stupidity
on stage!" Their newly brewed chemistry
was put to the test during the album's
grueling recording sessions, during
which Adam did double duty - already a
well-established producer, in addition to
his axe-wielding duties he took on the
reigns behind the board. "It's the
hardest thing to do because I'm
playing too, it's a real roller
coaster," Adam says.

"Writing this record was much more
stressful than the last," Stroetzel
adds. "Trying to write and tour at the
same time was a major chore. On the other
hand, the line-up changes made me
excited to see how this record would
unfold. I'm really psyched about what
Justin and Howard have brought to the

All of which amounted to a Killswitch
Engage mission statement more powerful
than any the bands members had ever
imagined. And one that's sure to further
entrench their place at the center of
the burgeoning new movement of
down-to-earth bands that have shed the
pretensions of heavy metal's checkered
past while embracing everything positive
and powerful the genre has ever offered.
"You always want people to enjoy it,
whether they're the kids who are
beating the crap out of each other, the
ones in the back nodding their heads or
just the casual listener," Jones
concludes. "But first and foremost, we
wanted an album that WE were happy
with. And we've made it."