Killswitch Engaged
Whilst they may not have been headlining tonight's show, it was quite clear even just looking at the t-shirts worn across the venue that there was a huge portion of the crowd clambering to check out one of the most important Metalcore bands of all time in Killswitch Engage. The band have a good history with Brixton Academy, and as soon as they threw themselves in to the duo of Alone I Stand and In Due Time the place predictably went off.
Since reuniting with Jesse Leach, his contributions have elevated Killswitch Engage to be one of the best live bands on the circuit at the moment. His power and aggression tonight as he ploughed through tracks in and out of his era with incredible ease was of the kind of level that a huge amount of vocalists should aspire towards. His passion is incredibly sincere, you really become drawn in to his presence and ability to add dimensions to already huge sounding tracks. His continual dominance and Adam D cutting his at times incredibly grating antics on stage made for a far better show overall. Adam D doesn't seem to look like he necessarily feels like he needs to be the centre of attention anymore which can only be a positive. If you were to directly compare the sheer volume generated from those huge sing-along moments in the Killswitch set with Bullet For My Valentine then the former easily take the trophy here. This was especially prominent in the triple whammy of My Last Serenade, The End Of Heartache and My Curse towards the end of the set where at times the band themselves ended up being drowned out completely.
The set-list choice on the night was slightly strange in the fact that it only contained one track from Alive Or Just Breathing, (My Last Serenade obviously), and a fair few newer tracks (which did dampen crowd enthusiasm at points), but they still covered so many bases as far as the big hitters are concerned. With a back catalogue like theirs it must actually be a pleasure working on the set-lists as they're able to cherry pick tracks from each album cycle with ease. There is a very strong argument in the case that this should really have been a full on co-headlining tour, in which we'd have seen a slightly longer set, but in fairness they did absolutely stack the time allotted to them.
Overall then, as has become standard fare with Killswitch Engage as of late, this was yet another very, very, good performance.