Killswitch Engage announce new album, 'Atonement', drop new single 'Unleashed'

Killswitch Engage gear up for 8th album, 'Atonement', with first-off-the-ranks cut, 'Unleashed.'

'Unleashed' is the first of 11 new songs from Killswitch's next record, 'Atonement', releasing August 16th via Sony Music Australia. (With the album's second listed track, 'The Signal Fire', featuring former frontman, Howard Jones, and is one song I cannot wait to hear.) As singer Jesse Leach recently puts it, 'Unleashed' is all about that inner, raw wild side coming up to the emotional surface, but then being able to use that state to push through suffering; capture something primal, something artistic, or something meaningful. Yet that isn't something that you could properly attribute to this new KSE track as the first taste and lead single off 'Atonement.'

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After some darkened guitar arpeggios in the slower intro and a beefy but cheesy "let's go" vocal call, Killswitch Engage then charge off into their typical melodic metalcore sound: big drum grooves, stomping palm-mutes, melodic leads, a couple squealies, and Jesse's classic sing-scream dual-vocal style. It's one of those songs that'll make die-hard fans who love Killswitch no matter what they do more than happy, but for anyone else looking for something really musically interesting or new sounding from the veteran metal act, it may leave some wanting. Such as myself.

There's no real inner wild side being unleashed here, ironically enough. It's all quite expected, and from such a seasoned, talented band such as these guys, it feels super underwhelming, what with all of its drop chugging for half the damn track an the bands unchanging approach and structure. Still, it does sound like the band are aiming for a rawer, darker sound with 'Atonement' - like an 'Alive Or Just Breathing' but in 2019, or even like a new Times Of Grace record - but now I await with caution for how this new LP will turn out.

Find out for yourself below: