“It was the late great Ronnie James Dio who introduced me to Killswitch Engage. As much as I’d like to say he showed them to me over a beer at a bar over wings or something - it was a cover of Ronnie’s Holy Diver that got me into the band.
And ya know what? I think the Killswitch cover blows Dio’s out of the water! “Surely you must be crazy” you might say. First of all don’t call me Shirley and second of all, take a second to listen to it. The heavy tone with melodic guitar and smooth yet incredibly textured vocals made it a cover I wish was the original. This also created the lovely heated debate which has been ongoing for nearly 20 years at this point of “Who did it better”? While I can’t give you a firm answer to that, I can tell you for sure that Killswitch Engage rocks and their body of work between 2000 to now has been something to note as a powerful metal experience.
That cover aside, take a dip - even if just the toes - into their 25-year tenure in the biz, and you’ll find yourself in the eye of a Kansas-style tornado of metal mayhem. From their self-titled debut album to Atonement and their latest live record, “Live at the Palladium”, Killswitch Engage has consistently been delivering you a first class - express free - overnight - powerhouse track after track. And if you truly want to experience their sheer magnitude of sound please for the love of God listen to “Live at the Palladium”. You’ll finally see with your ears how a band should sound live.
“MR JESSE LEACH”
For those of you who may not know, Jesse Leach is the original and now current vocalist for the band. An absolute gem of a human being and the man who brought you lines like "All in due time, the shadows will give way to light" from All in Due Time and "This revelation is the death of ignorance, tangled in a state of suffocation" from My Last Serenade. On a whim we reached out to Jesse to see if he would be down to rock some of the goods and - blessed be, the gods of metal all aligned - when he told us he was digging the stuff and grabbed some gear! Absolutely stoked to connect with him, and with the rest of the guys on board too, we started designing our collab piece.
Thinking back on that, we always wanted to ask him about his intro to the brand and what his thoughts are on the KsE collab:
WHAT INITIALLY ATTRACTED YOU TO CLOCKS + COLOURS?
I love the aesthetic, the style and the themes of nature. That and it’s high quality!
YOU'VE BEEN A FAN OF THE BRAND FOR SOME TIME NOW, ASIDE FROM THE KSE COLLECTION, WHAT WOULD YOU SAYD IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE?
Duality X Carlos Lang ring. The design is badass and beautiful and I like the metaphorical image of the wolves as well as the bare trees and the moon up the side of the ring! It reminds me of where I live here in Upstate NY. Cold winters and raw nature!
DOES THE KSE RING HAVE ANY SPECIAL MEANING TO YOU?
It’s a perfect representation of the legacy of this band. After all, it’s such a massive part of my life! It’s really cool after years of being a fan of C+C to see the iconography of our band on one of their rings!
And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out the awesome video Jesse made talking more about the collab:
UNBROKEN HIGHLIGHT
Much like writing a song, ideas are built, worked on, edited, scraped, adjusted, and polished until the perfect product is ready to show the world. This was no exception in our effort to come up with our KSE X Clocks + Colours collab ring but HOT DAMMIT WAS IT WORTH IT! If you wanna experience the full journey, keep reading along and we’ll show the final product at the end of this section. If you just can’t wait - check it out on our site now here: UNBROKEN X KILLSWITCH ENGAGE
PHASE 1
PHASE 2
PHASE 3
A TESTAMENT TO METAL LEGACY
Son of a bitch, we did it!
The final version of the Unbroken x Killswitch Engage has been born and finally ready to be unveiled to the world as a true testament to the legacy of the brand. The ring features the iconic KsE Skull Emblem wreath version—a favorite among fans—set against a thin hammered band design with the Clocks + Colours 4 point star on either side.
In speaking with the band and their designers, we asked about the significance of the logo and what this means to them:
Cheers to 25 Years of Killswitch hammering out some of the most killer metal we’ve been graced to experience! We’re honored and privileged to be a part of this major milestone with them and we’re glad to have you - our fans, their fans, and all the metal fans across the world a part of this too.
Cheers!
P.S. WANNA CATCH EM LIVE?
Or think their hanging it up after 25 years? You’d be sadly mistaken.
Catching up with their manager we’re told they have a Latin America tour in April, including Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile and Peru. A weekend of Midwest festivals in July including Rock Fest, Upheaval Fest and Inkcarceration. And in September they’re off to Australia and New Zealand to support Iron Maiden.
They’re also currently working on a new album with plans to release it before the end of the year. We will definitely be hitting the road hard once the new album is out.
HELL YEA!!!