A quarter century of Killswitch Engage. It’s hard for me to believe. Alive or Just Breathing was not only my entry point to KsE when I randomly picked it up at FYE or some shit at the ripe old age of… 13 or 14 I guess I was, it was also one of the first “modern” metal albums I ever explored. It was a foundational listen for me, and I was quickly hooked. From there, through the Howard Jones-era, and then flying all the way to This Consequence, there are a lot of memories and emotions embedded in those 25 years of music. This past Saturday, in one of the more special experiences I’ve had in my years of covering music, I had the opportunity to photograph that same Killswitch Engage on the closing night of this tour.

This party with Kublai Khan TX, Fit For A King, and Frozen Soul kicked off way back in the first week of March in Nashville, and now here we were over a month later at Cross Insurance Arena – one of the better “larger” venues I’ve shot and seen a show at – and in one of my favorite cities not only in New England, but anywhere. Believe it or not, the Portland food and drink scene has only gotten stronger over the years. Novare Res still rules, and you can add Duckfat and The High Roller to the list of spots I’d recommend. But I digress. (Drink.) Let’s move on.

The bands above performed in the reverse order as I listed. Normally I’d try and spend a few sentences on each set, but I’m going to largely skip that process this time. What I will mention, however, is that those supporting sets offered a nice variety of style and energy that almost… conflicted with each other? But not in a bad way necessarily. They still felt connected. It’s just that each set provided something a little different. The icy death metal of Frozen Soul, followed by the powerful yet catchy hooks of Fit For A King, and finally the raw intensity of Kublai Khan. The last of the trio being a sound and performance that wasn’t exactly for me. But hey, that’s a me-thing. And I was clearly in the minority! Those camo snapbacks were selling like hotcakes. But I digress. (Drink.) If there was one set to call out among the three, it would be Fit For A King. Like the rest of those opening performances, I was largely unfamiliar with the project beforehand. Well, now I’ll be returning regularly. Aside from just how captivated I was by the sound – which is a form of metalcore-that-flirts-with-deathcore that I find myself able to gravitate towards – the performance was just a blast to take in. They sounded great, delivering that balance of melodic and punishing effectively within a concise set, and their level of activity and showmanship on stage was hard to turn away from. It was just awesome in both sight and sound. Should you get a chance to catch these dudes on the road someday, be sure to make it happen.

So yeah! To wrap all that up, my point is mostly that he diversity in sound was appreciated. And with Cross Insurance being a fairly cavernous 9,500-capacity venue, the sound quality was never an issue. I was also happy to take advantage of the lounge space at various points to get off my feet… these knees are fucking old, man. Arena shows are awesome sometimes.

To this point in the night the crowd had been quite active. Not always in a positive way, but that will usually be the case with such evenings. The pits were encouraged, and that encouragement was responded to time and time again, with Kublai Khan especially helping the aggression boil over. The number of bodies I had to duck coming over railing while in the photo pit was… certainly something. At least everyone was having fun. That said, I was curious where the collective stamina would be for KsE. Turns out it was just fine, for the entirety of their 18-song set.

18 songs which were perfectly balanced between the highlights of This Consequence (“Forever Aligned” and “I Believe” included) and so many of their classics that I have spent years and years connected to. When the opening notes of “Rose of Sharyn” poured over me while I was in the photo pit, I gotta say I was pretty damn happy. I won’t go through them all. You know how to look up setlists. But if you’ve been a fan of KsE for awhile there is no doubt in my mind that you would have been satisfied with how eight of their albums were represented on this tour. Closing the night with the trio of “My Curse”, “The End of Heartache”, and “My Last Serenade” should tell you all you need to know.

And you know what? After all of these years, Killswitch is still Killswitch. All the way. Even at the end of a lengthy tour, their energy and enthusiasm was fully there, feeding the audience from one track to the next without fail. Adam D was in all his glory as you would hope and expect, and Jesse Leach made sure the crowd felt his presence start to finish – directly interacting with those near the stage as the set wore on. They’ve long been my favorite band to emerge from that era of metalcore, and this performance solidified why. The charisma they bring alongside these words and notes has never faded. When my time in the pit was done, I retreated to the seats in the back of the arena and just took in the rest of the night. It was fun. It was heavy. Memories and emotions cascaded over me as the setlist covered As Daylight Dies, Alive or Just Breathing, Atonement and more. It was honestly a bit surreal.

I’ve now seen KsE (I think) four separate times. Once at one of those traveling festivals from back in the day (which wasn’t all the memorable), once at Hampton Beach with Rise Against, and once in Albany with Lamb of God, DevilDriver, and Soilwork as a freshman in college. Let me tell you about that last adventure someday. It sure was something. But I digress. (Drink.) I think of those years and those previous concerts now, and where I was at the time. I never could have predicted this night. This opportunity and this adventure. And yet, there we were. Photographing one of my favorite bands and one of the bands that inspired a passion for heavy music that has only grown in me as the years and decades have marched on. It was a night and weekend to remember.

Time to wrap this up. Keep your eyes on the socials. I’ll keep rolling out more photos from this show in the days ahead.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb