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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Alive Or Just Breathing

Killswitch Engage

2002

Alive Or Just Breathing
Album Summary

This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.

Alive or Just Breathing is the second studio album by American metalcore band Killswitch Engage. It was released on May 21, 2002, through Roadrunner Records. Alive or Just Breathing was Killswitch Engage's first album on Roadrunner and was recorded from October 2001 to February 2002. Produced by drummer and guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, this was the band's first album on a major label, which prompted them to write and record the album to the best of their abilities. Alive or Just Breathing has been viewed as a landmark album in the metalcore genre and was well praised upon its release by fans and critics. The lyrics, which were all written by vocalist Jesse Leach, were intended to bring a positive message through the music. Shortly after the release of Alive or Just Breathing, Leach left the band for personal and health issues. Killswitch Engage quickly recruited Howard Jones to replace Leach. Jones would stay in the band for nearly ten years, until his departure in 2012, which prompted Leach to rejoin the band on the ten-year anniversary of Alive or Just Breathing. This is also the last album to feature Dutkiewicz on drums, as he would switch to guitar before the touring process. The drumming position was filled by Tom Gomes.

Wikipedia

Rating

2.42

Votes

62

Genres

  • Metal

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Reviews

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Nov 16 2024
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3

I listened to this during the evening workout and the driving beat certainly kept things moving along. I don't mind some speedy guitar either but the scream-growl vocal thing just never does anything for me, and the dark-portentous lyric vibe that seems mandatory in this genre tends to make me roll my eyes. The elements of more melodic singing and lighter instrumental interludes helped with this album. At the end of the day the metalcore is just not my thing.

πŸ‘
Nov 16 2024
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3

This stuff made a big splash in metal/alternative circles when it came out. Metal was in a weird spot at the time. Nu-metal had shat itself and lost its edge in favour of radio rock (see: Linkin Park, SOAD), and the older US bands (eg. Metallica, Slayer, Pantera) were dead in the water. The bigger metal bands at the time were Nevermore, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Opeth etc - European or heavy euro influence, no mainstream (or even "big alternative") interest. Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Trivium etc - all had promise, and the likes of Pitchfork etc took notice, but they kinda blew it imo. The idea of blending In Flames/At The Gates with Machine Head was a good one, but with these guys in charge it just all ended up sounding too soulless and *American*. It's 90% hardcore breakdown/screaming and 10% melody, when it should be more of a 50/50 mix. Eventually they discovered the other 5 strings on their guitars and a better singer (with the most metal name ever in Howard Jones), but this is... pretty meh. In all honesty, the best thing to come from this album is The End of Heartache (an easy 4/5) and the likely inspiration for Robb Flynn to snap out of it and write Through the Ashes of Empires. 3/5.

πŸ‘
Nov 16 2024
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2

It has excellent music, and I understand that this is what metal is like, but for my taste the vocalist has gone too far in his interpretation "two volume bars" above. I consider that it is not necessary to shout excessively to make a good METAL, since you can cancel out a lot of the work of the musicians and the lyrics. 2 1/2 stars

πŸ‘
Nov 17 2024
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5

I was 100% on board with the rage and the hard driving melodies. Loved it so much I listened twice.

πŸ‘
Nov 16 2024
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3

Sort of liked it, but man, my ears were TIRED by the last few tracks. I could take a song or two of them, but a full album, all at once, was a bit much.

πŸ‘
Nov 16 2024
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3

A solid pick, the user-added LPs could use some heavier genre selections instead of more singer-songwriter efforts. While this one definitely lacked any kind of dynamic contrast (making it a bit of a tiring listen at 45 minutes of pure loud), it did keep my head bopping and toe tapping through some bread-and-butter djent riffs. While not a perfect artistic statement, it was entertaining and enjoyable which is exactly what I needed today.

πŸ‘
Nov 16 2024
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3

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Life to lifeless

πŸ‘
Nov 17 2024
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3

Metalcore is just a bit too heavy for me. Though, this succeeded to met me listen it while, without the urge to turn it off

πŸ‘
Dec 19 2024
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3

There was a time when I listened to quite a lot of metal, some of it with shouty vocals. Whilst I still think the first Kvelertak album is a banger, I'm not really sure what happened, as angry noisy music isn't really me. Having said that, this is quite listenable and melodic in the main, even with all the shouting. Rating: 3 Playlist track: Self Revolution Date listened: 18/12/24

πŸ‘
Nov 16 2024
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2

Well named band and album title for the music. Nothing subtle here.

πŸ‘
Nov 17 2024
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2

Musically this is quite good, but I can't deal with that style of vocal. It's actually distracting from the rest of the music. Thanks for submitting it though. Many of these user submitted albums are just so one note, and this really stands out by comparison.

πŸ‘
Nov 17 2024
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2

This wasn’t the best choice for me today as I wasn’t really in the mood… so there’s that. Interesting that in the 90s/2000s we heard a lot of this sort of metal that mixes Grover-style screaming with borderline-Christian-rock pure vocals. I did appreciate that these songs seemed to be more positive than I expected. Overall, though, this was not working for me today.

πŸ‘
Nov 17 2024
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2

Not my thing, but I'm glad you like it.

πŸ‘
Nov 17 2024
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2

My ears are not open to this today.

πŸ‘
Nov 17 2024
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2

Once in a while, I really love a good metalcore song. (It doesn't really matter which one, since they all tend to sound the same.) I pump my fists and rock along. However, a whole album of metalcore just gets both grating and monotonous to me. I just think about how much the singer probably needs a cough drop.

πŸ‘
Nov 19 2024
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2

Metalcore, melodic metalcore, post-hardcore. Demasiado grito gutural. Un 2.

πŸ‘
Nov 21 2024
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2

A little bit before its time with the metal core style but also after the numetal died down this was a tough transition that was for a niche crowd in the 00s. Feel like they’d have a better following now but overall the metal core sound is hit and miss for me and these guys are a miss. Just too messy and not quite what I like in metal music. 5.0/10

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