REMEMBER WHEN KILLSWITCH ENGAGE RELEASED AN ALBUM THIS YEAR?

That was pretty anti-climactic, wasn’t it?

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Killswitch Engage’s self-titled record isn’t showing up on any year-end lists for 2009… I literally haven’t seen it appear on one list yet. And there’s a reason for that; this record simply isn’t as good as any of the prior ones. Despite the production work of Brendan O’Brien, the record ended up a disorganized assemblage of stock KsE songs. The record has its moments (most notably album-opener “Never Again” which is a ripper), but on the whole the album just isn’t that memorable and doesn’t offer much re-listening value. Even 2006’s As Daylight Dies, which many panned at the time, is much better — I listened to it the other day for the first time in at least a year and I was actually surprised at how well the album holds up.

For me, nothing will ever match The End of Heartache, but this year’s self-titled affair didn’t even come close. Surely there are some people who love the new record, as KsE still pack their shows and still sold a respectable number of records (if not close to the totals their two prior releases amassed). Perhaps it’s the younger generation, a fact that Howard Jones and Justin Foley seem all too aware of in the Canadian AUX.tv interview posted below. Has KsE lost their older fan-base for good?

-VN