Alive or Just Breathing

Alive or Just Breathing
Studio album from Killswitch Engage
Publication (s)	May 27, 2002
Label (s)	Roadrunner Records
Format (s)	CD
Genre (s)	Metalcore
Title (number)	12
running time	44 min 43 s
occupation	Singing : Jesse Leach Guitar : Adam Dutkiewicz Guitar: Joel Stroetzel Bass : Mike D'Antonio Drums : Tom Gomes
production	Adam Dutkiewicz
Studio (s)	Zing Studios, Westfield, Massachusetts
chronology Killswitch Engage (2000) Alive or Just Breathing The End of Heartache (2004)

Alive or Just Breathing is the second album by the American metalcore band Killswitch Engage . The album was released on May 27, 2002 via Roadrunner Records . By selling over 100,000 copies in the US, Killswitch Engage made its breakthrough in the metal scene.

History of origin

Adam Dutkiewicz switched from drums to guitar because at this point her guitarist had left the band. Tom Gomes took over the vacant drum position. The album was produced between October 2001 and February 2002 by guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. The album was mixed and mastered by Andy Sneap in the Backstage Productions studio ( Derbyshire , Great Britain ).

By switching to Roadrunner, the band had a larger budget available for the recordings. With "Temple from the Within" and "Vide Infra" the band recorded two new tracks from their debut album . Guest vocalists were Becka Dutkiewicz ("My Last Serenade") and Phil Labonte from All That Remains ("Self Revolution"). A video clip was shot for “My Last Serenade” , which has been broadcast many times in Germany on VIVA Plus .

Singer Jesse Leach denied in various interviews that the lyrics of this album are religious. Still, he admitted that the song "Numbered Days" addressed the prophecy of the fall of Babylon . "Fixation on the Darkness" is about the fact that the human soul contains both darkness and light. According to Leach, there must be a balance between these two sides.

Shortly after the album was released, Leach left the band to take care of his family more and because the musical form of expression no longer suited him. Tom Gomes can no longer be heard on the next album The End of Heartache either.

Track list

1. Numbered Days - 3:35
2. Self Revolution - 3:08
3. Fixation on the Darkness - 3:37
4. My Last Serenade - 4:17
5. Life to Lifeless - 3:17
6. Just Barely Breathing - 5:41
7. To the Sons of Man - 1:58
8. Temple from the Within - 4:04
9. The Element of One - 4:08
10. Vide Infra - 3:27
11. Without a Name - 1:44
12. Rise Inside - 5:54

Republication

In 2005 the album was re-released with a bonus CD containing eight more songs. The song Transfiguration is an older version of Fixation on the Darkness . The song Fixation on the Darkness is also represented in a version with the singer Howard Jones.

Additional title of the re-release

1. In the Unblind - 2:48
2. When the Balance is Broken - 4:35
3. Untitled & Unloved - 3:20
4. Numbered Days ( demo version) - 3:37
5. Transfiguration (demo version) - 3:38
6. Just Barely Breathing (demo version) - 5:13
7. Fixation on the Darkness (Howard Jones Version) - 3:37
8. Studio outtakes - 1:17

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Killswitch Engage: 100,000 albums sold . roadrunnerrecords.de; Retrieved March 16, 2009
2. ^ An interview with Killswitch Engage . lambgoat.com, May 25, 2003; Retrieved March 16, 2009
3. ↑ "I would like to be Homer Simpson". laut.de , interview; Retrieved March 16, 2009