Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Times of Grace - The Hymn of a Broken Man (2011)
This is my second encounter with the vocals of Jesse Leach in the Melodic Metalcore Clan Challenge, first encounter being when I reviewed Killswitch Engage's Alive or Just Breathing. Take the styles from that album and Leach's other band The Empire Shall Fall, and you have Times of Grace, a side project with Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz! Jesse L. and Adam D. reunited to make an album almost entirely by themselves, an exciting thing for Killswitch Engage fans to hear.
The influences are filled with curiosity. The Hymn of a Broken Man is a modern metalcore album similar to Killswitch Engage but with more experimentation. So are they gonna sound like Killswitch Engage or sound different enough for comparison? Let's listen...
"Strength in Numbers" is a strong start to the album, almost picking up where Alive or Just Breathing left off. One of my favorite "experimental" songs in the album is "Fight for Life" which has a great ethereal tremolo riff that reminds me Define the Great Line-era Underoath while giving stirring up nostalgia for the earlier Killswitch Engage fans. Next track "Willing" begins with good melodic riffs but sinks into melodic choruses that lack atmosphere or expression with inconsistent arpeggios. "Where the Spirit Leads Me" begins with interesting guitar lines and brilliant metalcore riff-wrath inspired by thrash and melodeath but once again gets lost in faceless melodic choruses that have typical Killswitch Engage arpeggios still sounding inconsistent.
The stylistic mix of dissonance and beauty in "Until the End of Days" really makes up for the poor quality of those last two songs. It starts with a nice soft intro before Leach switches his vocals nicely clean to tortured growling alongside heavier riffs kicking in. Those two guys really do a well-done job creating a song that flows so well soft to heavy to soft and so on. Whether it sounds beautiful and clean or ugly and harsh, you get to hear both sides in the best way possible. "Live in Love" has the aggressive chaos and calm melody both from the first two Killswitch Engage albums. The interlude "In the Arms of Mercy" sounds more familiar to anyone who has listened the instrumentals in Killswitch Engage, and acts as a nice tribute to fallen loved ones. After a suggestively gloomy intro, the title track has fantastic thrash riffs and an awesome tremolo melody, but those inconsistent arpeggios return again.
The acoustic ballad "The Forgotten One" showcases a sweet duet between Jesse and Adam, as good as Between the Buried of Me's "Desert of Song". Once again, a nice tribute to the ones we lost! Next up is "Hope Remains", another killer flashback to Alive or Just Breathing, now with solid blast beats. "The End of Eternity" is another song that follows the pattern of a soft intro before switching to heaviness and softness back and forth in a great way. "Worlds Apart" is once again driven by blast beats but it never really gets lifted off by the Killswitch Engage-style riff technicality. "Fall from Grace" has a greater rawer emotional feeling in guitars than ever before in metalcore.
The Hymn of A Broken Man is an album of wonderful hymns by two Killswitch Engage members. It has the stunning ability to please metalheads as they headbang. Adam did all the instruments and some vocals, proving his talented music skills. This is a nice standout point in his and Jesse's careers, all in chaos and grace!
Favorites: "Strength in Numbers", "Fight for Life", "Until the End of Days", "Live in Love", "Hope Remains", "The End of Eternity"