KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Bassist: Singer JESSE LEACH 'Blew Us Away' With His Performance On New Album

December 23, 2012

Jo Schüftan of Horns Up Rocks! conducted an interview with bassist Mike D'Antonio of Massachusetts metallers KILLSWITCH ENGAGE prior to the band's December 16 performance at the Music Hall Of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. You can now watch the chat below.

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Jesse Leach announced during the Brooklyn show that the band's new studio album will be released in April 2013 via Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded by KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, an acclaimed producer who has previously worked with ALL THAT REMAINS, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA and AS I LAY DYING, among others. The mixing sessions were overseen by veteran British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, TESTAMENT, EXODUS, ACCEPT, ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE).

Asked for more information about the status of the upcoming CD and how it came together, D'Antonio said: "We've got the title, I've got all the artwork finished for it. I've just gotta fit in the lyrics. [There are] 12 songs on it. It was hard to whittle down which songs were actually gonna make it on the record, 'cause we like them all; we're really excited about it."

He continued: "It was weird. Jesse did two songs and then kind of wanted to get a feel for how the band was communicating and hanging out together. And he was, like, 'Let's go out on tour and see how it is and then I can come back and finish the rest of the record and really have a better headspace for what's going on with the band.' So he did two songs, we went out on tour, came back and all of a sudden, he started doing all this new stuff — like, eight or nine different, new voices we had never heard before. And we were were, like, 'Wait a minute, man! Now you're gonan have to redo the last stuff we did, because this stuff sounds so great.' So he just blew us away. This guy… I don't know if he's got split personalities or what's going on in his head, but he's got a million different voices going on there, and it sounds really cool on the record."

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE's forthcoming album will mark the return of Leach, who rejoined the group earlier this year following the departure of Howard Jones after nine years and three successful albums.

Leach sang on the band's first self-titled album, which came out in 2000, and on their landmark release, 2002's genre-defining "Alive Or Just Breathing".

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