Band:	Killswitch Engage
Album:	As Daylight Dies
Style:	Melodic metalcore
Release date:	November 21, 2006
Guest review by:	omne metallum

01. Daylight Dies
02. This Is Absolution
03. The Arms Of Sorrow
04. Unbroken
05. My Curse
06. For You
07. Still Beats Your Name
08. Eye Of The Storm
09. Break The Silence
10. Desperate Times
11. Reject Yourself
12. Be One [Japanese and special edition bonus]
13. Let The Bridges Burn [Target and special edition bonus]
14. This Fire [special edition bonus]
15. Holy Diver [Dio cover] [special edition bonus]

Disc I [DVD] [special edition bonus]
01. My Curse [Video and Making of]
02. The Arms Of Sorrow [Video and Making of]
03. Holy Diver [Dio cover] [video]

Disc II [Best Buy Stores] [bonus]
01. My Last Serenade [live]
02. The End Of Heartache [live]
03. When Darkness Falls [live]

Having laid their claim to the throne of the mid-00s metalcore movement, Killswitch Engage made their move for the crown; not content to be one of the leading lights of the movement, the band took the spotlight and placed As Daylight Dies directly in the centre. As Daylight Dies is an album that adds a slew of classics to the band's canon, matching or in some cases surpassing their previous peaks; this however comes at a price, for as good as some tracks are it comes at the expense of consistency.

Meteoric or mediocre are the two types of song available on As Daylight Dies, songs that will make you stand back and make you go wow or make you go to the bar and watch while swigging some over-priced beer until the next song compels you back to the mosh pit.

Anyone who paid the slightest interest in metal during the mid to late 00s will know "My Curse" by rote; overplayed for a reason, it is one of five tracks that share this level of quality on this album. Alongside "This Is Absolution", "The Arms Of Sorrow", "Eye Of The Storm" and "Break The Silence", you have some of the finest metalcore of the genre and I would go so far as to say with no amount of hyperbole, some of the best metal of the 00s. Each track contains the fine riffage, melody and musicianship that gives this album its strength.

For as great as those five classics are however, the other six songs on As Daylight Dies are as average; featuring many of the same ingredients that make those other songs the classics they are, they just seem to be missing that edge and pale in comparison. I would not skip tracks like "For You" or "Still Beats Your Name", but I would not rush to hear them anytime soon, often serving as holding periods before the next song comes and kicks your ass.

It would be with the next album that you come to realize that the band had paid a price, in order for some tracks to burn so brightly it meant that light would fade just as quick.

The band are on fire as musicians, laying the blueprint for what other bands should aspire to be and no doubt inspiring many future musicians. Jones' voice has to rank among one of the best in metal of all time let alone post-millennium. From the soaring performance on "The Arms Of Sorrow" to the harsh vocals of "Reject Yourself", this album serves as evidence of his greatness if nothing else. Dutkiewicz puts in a fine supporting vocalist performance and alongside Stroetzel forms one hell of a guitar tag team that alongside Jones makes one hell of an enviable trio.

Well worth the entry fee for the five songs alone, while you will get value for money with the album as a whole you will find yourself holding onto the receipt just in case as you run through one of the more fallow periods in the album's runtime.