Jesse (ex-KSE) is back!!
I’ve been waiting a long time for this. I got into Killswitch Engage when Jesse Leach was still the front man, and it took me a long time to accept Howard Jones. But Jesse is back!
“Awaken” is an awesome debut by metalcore band, The Empire Shall Fall and with Jesse on the vocals, I expect we will hear a lot more from them. Fast and heavy double peddling and groovy guitar riffs by Jake Davenport and Marcus de Lisle, will ensure that Jesse’s career is back on track to continue from where he left KSE. Title track, 'Awaken' surely woke me up. The breakdown is awesome and mesmerizing.
'Lords of War' kicks of with pure metalcore. Jesse sounds as good as when he split with KSE. He continuously takes his vocal chords to the max. 'Choir of Angels' is another awesome track. Fast and maxed out, and with a poignant reminder of what happened at 9/11, how angry we are about this and that after all these years the pain is still there.
TESF is much more political than KSE; with almost a RATM influence. They have had enough of this sh*t and we must rise against all this. There is also a very strong Messugah influence with the complex song structures and time signatures. The album is laden with fast tempo and down tuned, groovy death metal riffs.
'We The People' tests Jesse’s voice to the maximum. With groovy guitars set against angry vocals encouraging revolution to “stand against the tyranny, the control, the injustice......the media as they feed us”. This epic track develops into another RATM influenced track, where we can almost imagine a Zack de la Rocha guest appearance in the future.
'These Colors Bleed' kicks off at 500 miles per hour with Jesse’s growl, and incredibly fast drumming. It continues this pace into an amazing breakdown, developing into some great head banging groove.
The final two tracks on this debut album, 'Our Own' and 'The Kingdom' remind me a lot of the old KSE sound.
"Awaken" is a true masterpiece debut delivered by The Empire Shall Fall and personally I feel this album puts the latest effort by KSE to shame.