As Daylight Dies

As Daylight Dies is the fourth studio album by the American metalcore band Killswitch Engage. It was released on November 21, 2006 through Roadrunner Records. It was produced by the band's guitarists, Adam Dutkiewicz and Joel Stroetzel. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on November 23, 2021, for selling over 1,000,000 copies in the United States.^[2]

Killswitch Engage’s previous albums saw the group use perfectionist tendencies. However, when it came to the recording of As Daylight Dies, Adam Dutkiewicz pushed the band to relax their perfectionist habits. Joel Stroetzel stated in a 2018 interview “We weren’t as picky about getting everything as dead-on as last time,” “The End of Heartache was a whole different thing. We’d double every guitar, and everything had to be perfectly in tune. But this time, Adam promoted attitude over perfection — and he promoted it with 40s! It was more like, ‘Well, that’s pretty damn close! Good enough.’”^[3]

The cover art was done by bassist Mike D'Antonio.^[4]

The album was released on November 13, 2006 through Roadrunner Records. It peaked at number 32 on the Billboard 200,^[5] selling up to 60,000 copies within its first week.^[6] It also peaked within the Rock, Hard Rock, and Digital Albums Charts. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on June 30, 2009,^[7] which was on the same date of the release of its successor, Killswitch Engage. It has since gone on to sell more than 500,000 copies in the United States alone.^[8] The album was later certified platinum on November 23, 2021, by the RIAA, indicating sales of 1,000,000 or more.^[9]

The album's first single, "My Curse", was released in 2006, and managed to peak at number 21 on the Billboard Rock Songs Chart.^[10] The radio edit strips down most of the track's unclean vocals, replacing them with Howard Jones' re-recorded clean vocals. A music video directed by Lex Halaby (who previously directed the live video for "A Bid Farewell")^[11] premiered on MTV 2's Headbangers Ball on November 3, 2006.^[12][13][14] "My Curse" was included as a playable track in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and as downloadable content for the video games Rock Band and Rock Band 2. It was also featured on the soundtrack of the video games Burnout Dominator and Burnout Paradise. The album's second single, "The Arms of Sorrow", was released in 2007, and peaked at number 30 on the Rock Songs Chart.^[15] A music video directed by Aggressive premiered on Headbangers Ball on May 1, 2007.^[16][17][18]

A special edition was released on August 28, 2007, including four B-sides and a DVD containing three music videos and behind-the-scenes footage.^[19] The album's B-side "Holy Diver", a Dio cover, was released as the album's third single on August 17, 2007.^[20] It peaked at number 12 on the Rock Songs Chart, making it the band's highest charting single. A music video directed by Brian Thompson premiered on the band's official Myspace page on August 1, 2007.^[21] The video is a comical re-imagining of the original video by Dio.^[22] A music video for the album's fourth single, "This Is Absolution", was released in 2008, featuring footage of the band performing the song live, as well as backstage footage. It also released the song "This Fire Burns" (listed in the album as simply "This Fire"),^[23] which was the theme song for WWE Judgment Day 2006 and later, the entrance music for professional wrestler CM Punk from 2006 to 2011. It was also used for two occasions by Randy Orton. The song had previously been released on the WWE Wreckless Intent album in May 2006.^[24]

The album continued the bands signature melodic metalcore sound, with songs like "My Curse" and "Arms of Sorrow" showcasing this duality of heavy verses built on screamed vocals and crushing riffs that lead into sweeping, melodic choruses.^[25] PopMatters stated “As Daylight Dies finds Killswitch — the poster boys of metalcore — finding their feet with their new singer, reading each other’s musical ambitions (as a record, it’s almost as ambitious as it is grandiose) and moving away from the lighter pastures that blessed End of Heartache and back towards the melodic death metal they were influenced by.”^[26] The lyrics explore introspective and emotional themes with Jones combing personal emotion with universal messages.

Widely regarded as one of Killswitch Engage’s best works, As Daylight Dies helped push metalcore into the mainstream in the mid-2000s, while also helping make the group into even more of a household name.^[36]

The album has received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Thom Jurek of AllMusic praised the album, scoring it a four-and-a-half out of five and commenting, "If the cynics don't get it by now, they never will. For the rest, this is the album to come into the tent with."^[28] The tracks "This Is Absolution", "Unbroken", and "Eye of the Storm" were indicated as the AMG Track Picks.^[28] Raziq Rauf of Drowned in Sound also praised the album, scoring it a nine out of ten and saying, "With As Daylight Dies, Killswitch Engage have cemented their position as the reason for metalcore ever existing."^[30] Ultimate Guitar gave the album heavy praise stating “This is the best Killswitch Engage album to date. The guitars are intricate and soaring, the drums are pummeling, and the vocals are angelic. A listener will be hard pressed to find too many things wrong with this album. it's written and performed like too well. Adding “No fan of metal should be without this album.”^[37] MusicOMH praised the albums writing claiming “Howard Jones managed to not only match both his predecessors' commitment to genuinely impressive vocal range but also displays an equally authentic lyrical depth.”^[38] Kaj Roth of Melodic.net wrote “this is their most melodic and strongest album up to date.” “The compact sound is still there but now with less faster tracks and greater choruses where singer Howard Jones gets to show his fantastic range.”^[39] Mike of Sputnikmusic added “With As Daylight Dies, the metalcore band places a great deal of emphasis on both melody and aggression to make up the sound, and does a fairly good job moulding the two musical themes together.”^[40]

Brandon Tadday of Overdrive Magazine described the album as "without a doubt one of the most impactful releases for melodic metalcore during the mid-2000s".^[41]

1. "My Curse" (video)
2. "The Arms of Sorrow" (video)
3. "Holy Diver" (video)
4. Making-of videos for "My Curse" and "The Arms of Sorrow"