653. Killswitch Engage / Disarm the Descent. 2013. 3.5/5

The anticipating of the release of this album has been building ever since it was announced that Jesse Leach was rejoining the band last year. What would the former vocalist bring to the band that he had been apart from for the last decade? Would he play a major part in the songwriting process? And what direction would the band head in now that Howard had gone?
Most of the answers are overwhelmingly positive. KsE seem to have gotten their mojo back after the somewhat limp and lifeless second edition of Killswitch Engage from 2009.

From the start the energy is noticeably increased. It's faster, both in guitar work and drumming, and more aggressive vocally. Jesse's return to lead vocals is a real highlight, and to me is what immediately hit me about this album. I guess I was surprised that he has returned so well and really enhanced the songs here to a level that perhaps Howard could not have. Awesome stuff.
They haven't reinvented the Killswitch Engage wheel on this album. Rather, they have taken the band's strengths and refined and highlighted them, and found what has been missing in recent times. OK, so lyrically it mightn't be Shakespearean - or even Metallicaean - but it isn't the lyrics that drive the album. It is the pure energy of the vocals, the ever mechanically brilliant drumming of Justin Foley, and the guitars that just keep exuding that signature Killswitch Engage sound. Apart from his own performance, Adam Dutkiewicz has done a great job in getting the best back out of the band in writing and recording.
Highlights for me on the album include "The Hell in Me", "New Awakening" "In Due Time" and "The Turning Point".

Anyone who may have been disappointed in at least the last release from this band - and let's face it, most fans were - should not let it deter them from checking out this new album. On closer inspection you will find that this is an excellent return to form, and perhaps even the dawn of a New Awakening.