Killswitch Engage at Santo's Party House

Vocalist Jesse Leach has returned to Killswitch Engage

Killswitch Engage became a founding metalcore band when formed in 1999 in Westfield, Massachusetts. The musicians adapted the band’s name from an episode of the television series The X-Files entitled "Kill Switch." The band has recorded six studio albums, the latest being Disarm the Descent, released in April 2013. Killswitch Engage's current lineup consists of vocalist Jesse Leach, guitarists Joel Stroetzel and Adam Dutkiewicz, bassist Mike D'Antonio and drummer Justin Foley.

What happens when a heavy metal band plays a venue that usually hosts hip hop events? The stage was so dimly lit that the audience could barely see the musicians and the audience was submitted to blinding by hundreds of constantly flashing lights overhead. Unless you were right up against the stage, the lighting was extremely annoying. That said, Killswitch Engage's performance at Santo's Party House as part of the second annual CBGB Festival was a blast. In some ways, Killswitch Engage's music was standard metalcore brutality, with growling vocals, crushing guitar riffs, power chords, dual-guitar harmonies, double bass drums and plenty of stop and go breakdowns. Rhythmic shifts seemed to build and then relieve internal pressure in short, abrupt explosions. The songs never went too extreme, however, and lent themselves to sing-alongs – or more appropriately, howl-alongs. Killswitch Engage’s performance, which was a benefit to fund cancer research, was raw metalcore at its tidiest.

Visit Killswitch Engage at www.killswitchengage.com.