KILLSWITCH ENGAGE RETURNS

A shortlist of releases this week, here are some of the albums coming out today that may pique your interest:

Killswitch Engage – Atonement

The album marks the third release since the return of original lead singer Jesse Leach. It is coincidentally the first album where his replacement, Howard Jones, returns to the fold to lend his vocals on one of the band’s tracks. The album also features legendary Testament vocalist Chuck Billy.

The band continues to put out solid albums, this album for my money is the best out of the ones they’ve released since the aforementioned Leach returned to the fold. They always manage to do their thing and evolve slightly with each release without coming out as being overtly experimental. The track “I Am Broken Too” is among my favorite tracks to be released this year.

HammerFall – Dominion

This is the power metal giant’s tenth studio album, they have always been at the forefront of this metal sub-genre, and as a result, have a huge following all over the world. Many of said fans will eat this album up, as I’ve come across many a blind followers over the years.

But while other bands like Primal Fear have been able to convince me over the years, I listen to this album and think their best tracks flat out borrow from Accept. Which, like many other bands that are grouped in with this kind of metal, makes me want to reach for Accept to cleanse the proverbial pallet per se.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Infest The Rats’ Nest

This is the second release by the Australian band this year, their fifteenth album overall. It would be no big deal if they weren’t releasing albums like Kiss in the early 70s, putting out two releases or more in almost every year since 2012! 2017 saw them release four albums, which I guess made taking 2018 off a little easier.

If that isn’t enough for you to see that this isn’t your run-of-the-mill band, consider that this album was mostly recorded by three of the band’s seven-man revolving lineup. They experiment, a lot, and that’s why you’ll see everything from psychedelic, stoner, progressive, thrash, and just plain heavy metal associate with them.

What’s great about this album is no two songs sound similar, you’ll see reviews for the album where bands like Motorhead, or Voivod are mentioned, along with Metallica, Slayer, Overkill, and others. This is definitely more of a thrasher album from the band, but they haven’t just painted themselves into a corner by regurgitating the same thing over and over again.

Here are some other releases that may interest you:

Devourment – Obscene Majesty

Equilibrium – Renegades

Twilight Force – Dawn Of The Dragonstar

Atreyu – In Our Wake Deluxe Edition

Thrice – Beggars 10th Anniversary Vinyl

Deftones – Live At Dynamo Open Air 1998

Article by Victor M. Ruiz of Mars Attacks Radio & Podcast, and Galaxy Of Geeks Podcast.  Connect with him on Twitter:  @vmr907