KILLSWITCH ENGAGE have crafted the album that all their peers are still striving to make. Equipped with a heavy PANTERA stomp and interlaced with syncopated swedish metal riffing, Alive or Just Breathing is metal at its core. The five-some never stray too far from their in-your-face metallic attack, only occassionally flirting with brilliant melodic hooks. It’s a shame they don’t utilize the melodic passages more cause they have some of the sweetest choruses this side of ALICE IN CHAINS. With soaring vocals and dreamy guitars, even your mother would approve! Jesse Leach’s clean singing performance is thoroughly impressive while his harsh vocals are unfortunately rather generic, teetering between hardcore screams and death metal growls. Alive or Just Breathing is still fresh, energetic, and brutal from the very get-go and never once lets up. Don’t bother trying to categorize this album as either metal or hardcore. Either way, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE is 100% nu-metal-free and will surely kick your ass!! You can expect Alive or Just Breathing to make many year-end top album lists. (Roadrunner Records)