“THIS SONG IS ABOUT THE DARKNESS, AND FIXATING ON IT”
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 1:55pm by Vince NeilsteinSome time ago I found this live video of Killswitch Engage performing “Fixation on the Darkness” live in Brooklyn in 2002. Jesse Leach is on vocals, Adam D. still has blonde hair, and the rest of the dudes lack their bushy hair / beards of today. This is right before the band’s popularity exploded; Alive or Just Breathing had just been released, and you can feel the excitement emanating from the band… the performance sounds fucking vicious and passionate.
What I’ve always liked about Killswitch is their every-dude-ness; even though they’re now one of the biggest metal bands in the world, they still seem like normal, chill dudes you’d sit down with for a beer and some fart jokes. Nowhere is that more evident than from this humble performance in a small Brooklyn club. Minus the farts.
-VN
Why can’t Jesse Leach be the singer of this band anymore? . . . sigh.
lol @ Metal/Hardcore Fest DVD reference.
“OMG, you are FIRED.”
Guessing this was when they were still looking for a drummer to replace Adam D?
Well this would be around the time Tom Gomes handled drumming duties, before Justin Foley replaced him…
I’ll never understand why people harp on about Jesse Leech all the time… sure he was great, and they made an awesome album… but it makes it seem like Howard Jones is a shit frontman, of which he’s the polar opposite…
I just don’t get it, I’ve always preferred Howard Jones..
Adam looks like Spider from PM5K, fly pants as well.
What Club is that?
With that hair and getup, Adam looks even MORE like a cartoon character than usual (if that is even possible). He’s friggin’ Gumby especially at the beginning of the track…I cannot NOT giggle at him.
I agree with Byron W. Jesse was awesome and they made a badass album but Howard, to me, is a better singer/frontman. When they went back and re-did some of the AoJB track I though Howard sounded better.
I just hope they can pull off another good album. Heartache was great, daylight dies, not so much.
this song is about the first time god forbid went skateboarding, its called ‘when darkness falls’
Personally, I actually have to agree with erock. I do think Howard is a great frontman with a great voice, but there was something about Jesse that I liked better. Howard’s voice has that powerful, “epic” kind of feel, whereas Jesse always felt a bit more raw and emotional to me.
It could also be my preference for the music (as I originally heard it), seeing as Alive or Just Breathing was my first and favorite KSE album.
I agree. I don’t think Howard is a bad frontman or a bad singer at all, but Jesse just brought an intensity and rawness to the band that put them over the top and really made them something special. Alive or Just Breathing is an amazing and powerful record. I still think they are a pretty solid band, but it’s just a different sound and feel with Howard on the mic.
Watcth the first Hellfest DVD. It has Mike D’Antonio with dreadlocks.
This song is a tribute to the band The Darkness
jesse cant be in the band anymore cause he quits everyone hes in ask nothing stays gold hes a crybaby quiter
sorry guys i calls em likes i sees em u think kse would have been big if jesse stayd in the band??
@G The last time I saw these guys, it was, “This song… is about Howard stripping… This song… is… ‘When Darkness Falls’”.
Jesse vs Howard… Jesse wrote his songs about topics other than love/heartbreak and he sang them from his heart. Howard can sing and may have a better range, but for me, his lyrics and delivery are pretty watered down in comparison to Jesse’s material.
Masshole for life.
From the KSE dvd:
“This song is about Howard trying to ice skate… ‘When Darkness Falls’!!!”
this was tapped @ north six over in brooklyn. soilworked also played and they ruled!!!
All of Jesse’s lyrics are Christian-oriented. I’d much rather hear about love/heartbreak than that.
jesse has the more raw power and metal vibe to him,HJ does the better overall delivery. The new songs Jesse wouldn’t have been able to do half as well as HJ, but songs off AOJB are still best when it’s Jesse. The riffs are so much more aggresive than they are on that love song album when daylight dies. I mean you’d think HJ has had like 45 different girlfriends and they all dumped him real badly.
Adam D.’s entire spine being fused together or whatever might haven take away some of his crazy moves you see in this video. In any case, Tom Gomes was pretty good. Right on with the kicks. Jesse is having some trouble hitting the notes in the chorus, but it always seemed a bit more genuine before Howard came in. They seem more like a product now. Maybe that’s because they just became that overwhelming popular so quickly.
I have to agree with Kyle. Howard Jones has an incredible voice and does his job quite well, but he just doesn’t have the passion that Jesse Leach does.
PASSION IS ONE THING BUT HE DOESNT STICK AROUND
GIVN HOWARDS SINGING JESSES SONGS BUT WHAT BOUT THE NEW STUFF AND THE PAST STUFF JESSE DIDNT WRITE ALL OF IT
My thing is this… Jesse may have been an amazing vocalist, with alot of raw energy… but he quit the band. Howard Jones picked up the pieces ran with it, and they stayed a top performing band in the metal scene. Howard is different arguably, but hes allowed the band to stay and become even more popular.
Howard can sing but his scream is weak. jesse’s scream has soooooo much more passion. theyre still a great band, but i miss jesse’s style. the new songs are vocally weak. thats the problem. great music, mediocre vocals. the end. mass metal 4 ever!
I think both Howard Jones and Jesse Leach are awesome. Jesse had the intensity but i wouldn’t say Howard lacks it either.On the Roadrunner United DVD both of em are onstage singin My Last Serenade and they sound fuckin near identicle
Jesse Leach = Better scream, better emotional singing, better lyrics, best KSE album.
Howard Jones = Funnier?
For the sake of fairness I went and listened to the Howard Jones remake and I am surprised someone said that he was better. Howard very weakly makes his way through the singing parts (very nasally) and his scream is like it’s out of a textbook. Meaning that it is not that original sounding. Kind of standard hardcore scream. Sure, Jesse quit and what not, but based on the talent displayed during his time with the band, he is surely the best of the 2 by far.
It’s so true. KSE is soooo chill. I saw them at the Mall of America eating sushi and I was like “fuck aren’t you Killswitch Engage?!?!” Adam replies “nope” lol. Then they hit on my sister and talked about how they go to my hometown to get vodka lol. They were the coolest dudes ever
Jesse’s melodies were so good on “alive…” Howards are the same in every song. The only great singing parts on the last 2 albums belong to either Jesse, haha, or Adam. Love Howard as a frontman though, but he needs to put his HIM albums down and stop writing the same song over and over again. Heartbreak, yeah we get it. I can’t believe I’m the first to say that Howard was better in BHBS, well not when he’s trying to channel Mike Patton, that is. I love this band though, and I will for life.
Jesse screams were soo much more raw but jesse fucking quits every band he’s in…and he quits b/c he blows out his voice and sucks playing live, that’s why jesse is in two bands now, cuz he knows he missed his 15 mins of fame and he’s trying so hard to grab that back but his new shit will never be as quality as KSE…howard jones is the fucking man…the only band in history that got a new singer and the new singer is such a better frontman….HJ fucking owns
lol All that “raw energy and passion” that you guys are talking about that Jesse had is exactly why he quit the band in the first place. He was tearing his vocal chords apart. He was using no technique at all in his performances, just emotion. That sounds good, but the problem is that it’s never gonna sound good for more than a couple records (or just one, in this case). Howard is an all around better front-man. He has good screams, very good singing, great range, and above all, great technique. He’ll be around for a long time.
both singers are too different to compare and both offer something to the band
They were both boring, really.
They both had so-so vocal range.
The only thing Howard has is a richer scream and richer clean vocals. He’s better only by a little bit.