It's been six years since Killswitch Engage released Atonement, marking their longest gap between albums by far. The pandemic during that period appears to have been on vocalist Jesse Leach’s mind during the crafting of the band’s ninth album. He’s spoken about his consequent mental struggles, his initial rage and frustration turning to sadness and despair at the fractured state of the world. That journey can be heard throughout This Consequence. Jesse expresses feelings of loneliness and abandonment with furious anger, before calls for humanity to unite and heal come soaring in. His lyrics can often be cloaked in metaphor, but his passionate delivery always connects deeply, and here he’s sparked the strongest KSE album in well over a decade.
The opening Abandon Us is classic Killswitch – all metallic hardcore riffs, rhythms that will get you spin-kicking around your bedroom and some brilliantly bold, chest-beating vocals. But Jesse’s enraged, impassioned referencing of all he had being ‘turned to dust’ and being ‘left to bleed’ elevates the song and steals the show.
