Killswitch Engage: Come What May
Resilience is one of the most powerful traits a person can possess. The ability to overcome seemingly insurmountable circumstances whilst maintaining the truest sense of oneself is what makes us human. Though there are many cogs to the machine in terms of conquering that which stands in our way, the one many cherish the most is the capacity to face life’s consequences and allow those trials to become tools for growth, come what may. KILLSWITCH ENGAGE’s ninth studio effort, This Consequence, was the effect to 2019’s Atonement’s cause.
With Adam Dutkiewicz [guitars] shouldering much of the creative process for Atonement, the brotherhood desperately needed cohesiveness. What better way to test the ties that bind than collaboration and, at times, brutal honesty. “Looking back on it, it was necessary,” Jesse reminisces from his home in New York State. “It was good to have everyone’s input as it helped me with the idea of allowing my creations and things I hold precious to die”. Often times the repercussion of being a creative mind is holding an attachment to our output so it becomes personal when scrutiny is brought into the mix. However as Jesse goes on to tell us. “If someone criticises your art, it’s not necessarily a reflection of you. It’s a reflection of the work itself,” and now looks back on it rather fondly. “As an artist, they challenged me in ways I’ve never been challenged. And because of that, we got what we have here which is uniquely KILLSWITCH ENGAGE.”
Part of the unparalleled nature of This Consequence came from something the band hadn’t done with Jesse in two decades; creating music in a room together. “To me that was magic,” he recalls with a warm smile. “To be in the environment where riffs were being shown and creativity was happening on the spot, it was a really cool way to enter this process.” It wouldn’t all be smooth sailing however as before pen met paper, Jesse had to subdue a demon of his own; the sense of apathy the pandemic had left him with. “I wasn’t the same person,” he comments. “Coming out of it, I didn’t know what I wanted to say as an artist – What do I have to say to this world that just went through this and continues to go through insanity from wars to police brutality to everything that we’re being spoon-fed through the media, social media, mainstream media, political division. It was overwhelming.”
It was with the action of tapping into suppressed frustration that rekindled Jesse’s passion. But how did that act of breaking through the stalemate happen in the first place? His well-documented introspection and self-betterment held the answer as he goes on to say; “If something happens in my life, I have to reflect on it. Why did that happen? Cause and effect, consequence, if you will. What are the consequences of your actions? When you suppress things, you can make yourself sick, you can spiral into depression, you can be very volatile and snap at people for no reason. I had a little bit of all those things.” Coming to the realisation a personality trait no longer serves us or the person we have become as a result of trauma isn’t who we really are, has us facing perhaps the most difficult question: Now what? Suppression may be the easier path but what we ignore eventually rears its head in much uglier ways. For KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, and Jesse himself, that had to come out lyrically. “It’s anger that’s been suppressed, but it’s still in some way, shape, or form, a positive desire to move forward with a better mindset. Righteous anger is the running theme for this record, and obviously consequence, cause and effect and the question of where do we go from here.”
KILLSWITCH ENGAGE has flown the flag encouraging us to be the positive change we wish to see. Or as Collusion so succinctly surmises “Stop waiting for a symbolic saviour”. Why have others do for you what you can do for yourself? It’s this do it yourself attitude KILLSWITCH ENGAGE has carried with them from their youth within the hardcore scene to the present day. The ethos of self-empowerment is the embodiment of the hardcore genre and of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE itself; “it’s in our DNA as a band,” Jesse emphatically states.
While tracks such as Collusion, Discordant Nation, and Aftermath may seem as though they have set parameters, that doesn’t mean certain people are excluded from its meaning. “It’s important for art to be able to speak to people where they come from,” Jesse notes. “When I’m writing, I’m hoping different people from different walks of life can relate to these line.” As is the case with music, everything is open to interpretation and it’s these points of discussion Jesse thrives on going on to say; “sometimes that interpretation is more powerful than what you were even trying to do with it – it’s incredible!” Delving further into the incredibly rich medium of music, he gives a moment’s pause; “I don’t think people realise how music is all encompassing in our lives. Watch a good film and put it on mute, I’ve done this, you’ll realise how music will lead the emotion of the scene you’re watching and there is no other medium that can do that.”
With the power of music firmly at the heart of our discussion, it would be a sin to not mention I Believe. Partly at the personal request of our writer but also as a reminder to our conversational partner that his platform has and will continue to help those within our scene when we need support the most. “I had to fight tooth and nail for that song to go on the record,” Jesse jokes. “But I think it will help a lot of people. What strikes me about the word belief is it really is in the eyes of the beholder.” Perhaps going back to the message of Collusion’s symbolic saviour, the vocalist is keen to remind people of the power they hold if they exercised a little faith. “Faith is such a loaded word for people. You don’t have to be on your knees praying to Jesus to have faith. You just have to believe in yourself,” he observes. “You have a choice every day when you wake up in what you can believe in, why not let yourself be the recipient?”
It isn’t solely self-compassion Jesse wants to see more of. As a fellow empath to our writer and perhaps personifying the notion of being the change he wants to see in the world, Jesse comments; “It can be said over and over again that love is the most powerful thing. I know the world isn’t based on that; it’s based on power struggles and greed, its driving force is all about control. The only way to combat that darkness and that control is love.” He again takes a moment as if to organise his thoughts, “I know it sounds very John Lennon but if we all had a little more love there would be more peace and we would be in a much better place.” This doesn’t mean we stage hotel bed protests nor do we resurrect the Summer of Love. Simply put, we need to exercise empathy toward ourselves and our surrounding environments, including our human brethren; “get outside of the box you’re living in, try to see the world differently and act upon it. Be radical in your desire for positive change,” Jesse adds.
At the close of a conversation which could have gone on for several more hours, Jesse seizes the opportunity to take stock of what life and This Consequence has taught him. “This record reawakened something within me and put a fire under me that I needed to be lit” he reflects, a note of his extensive introspection bubbles to the surface. “I was dim for a while coming out of that pandemic and this album reminds me that music can make you believe again. Everything is in its right place and it feels different this time. I’ve not felt this way in ten years, maybe twelve but this has given me the sense of purpose I was looking for.”
This Consequence is out now via Metal Blade Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS118 here:
Like KILLSWITCH ENGAGE on Facebook.