Being one of the first bands to venture into this genre, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE has been able to invent themselves as they wanted, resulting in them making their own brand of Metalcore since 1999. These guys from Westfield in Massachusetts, USA are easily identifiable when they start playing their music. The mix of Metalcore with Thrash Metal is very distinguishable. Many have tried to copy them, but no one has been able to better them, if you ask me. “This Consequence” is their ninth studio album, and to be fair, it’s not their best one so far. Does that mean it contains bad music? Not at all, but I somehow was hoping for more.

Before I get into the music, let’s silence the debate about singers one and for all. I know a lot of fans prefer Howard Jones, who shouted through the microphone from 2002 until 2011, whilst current vocalist Jesse Leach is not only is the one that started up with the band in 1999, only to leave in 2002, but he has been back since 2012, so he is entering his fifteenth year as the frontman of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. And to say he’s not doing a good job would be a direct insult to the man. He’s actually doing a cracking job, if you ask me. Just listen to his vocal contributions on “This Consequence”, look me in the eye and dare to tell me he’s rubbish. You bloody well can’t.

So, now for the music. like I said, as soon as you start “This Consequence” you will immediately know you are listening to KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. It is so much like them. Everything they do is how they have done it for years now. And that is also why I am a bit disappointed in “This Consequence”. It’s not offering anything new, opening fresh paths of heaviness. The album doesn’t impress me in ways that will give me a new kind of appreciation of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. It’s the same kind of thing as they always have done. I know, AC/DC and MOTÖRHEAD have gotten away doing that all through their career, but we are talking about KILLSWITCH ENGAGE here. Don’t get me wrong, they are doing what they do that in very fine fashion, but I was hoping to discover new aspects or, if you will, grounds that the band would have covered. They haven’t, resulting in “This Consequence” being a very reliable and dare I say safe Metalcore album by KILLSWITCH ENGAGE.