Light The Torch You Will Be The Death Of Me Album Review And New Tracklist
When Howard Jones left Killswitch Engage in 2012, it was, he says, because the anxiety and stress of being on tour eventually meant that, “I physically and mentally couldn’t get onstage,” an issue not helped by keeping on top of living with Type‑2 diabetes. Listening to Light The Torch’s second album, it certainly wasn’t because of musical differences. Though not a copy of Killswitch, they’re nevertheless a similarly huge-sounding, stompy metal vessel in which Howard’s massive voice really shows its power. The moments of full-bore metal – opener More Than Dreaming and the chonky Denying The Sin – batter solidly. But more often they lean into melody, letting testosterone take a passenger seat to a more obvious skill with a tune. Let Me Fall Apart, Wilting In The Light and Death Of Me are gigantic songs that find Howard in his sonorous element, big on riffs while easy on the ear, without being cheesy American radio rock. The keyboard washes are reminiscent of that period around 2003...