I had no idea that Jesse Leach (the original Killswitch Engage vocalist) was still making music after Seemless, and it seems like the man has been at it hard because Awaken is a beast, and to be frank it puts the Killswitch effort this year in the shade.

Even after listening to this for the umpteenth time, it’s hugely satisfying to hear Leech unleash the strength of his vocal chords, and he reaches into every part of his repertoire throughout the album’s sub 40 minute runtime. He is definitely the focal point but the music is equally colourful and interesting, with plenty of variety in structure, texture and tone. Take the crushing breakdown at the climax of the opening title track, coupled with Leach’s soaring vocals. It’s epic but also thoroughly pounding and shows a level of maturation above the more straight forward Killswitch poundings of the past few years.

“Voices Forming Weapons” is one of the album’s standouts with Leech’s vocals being pushed hard be it graceful singing, earthshaking bellows are piercing screams. “Choir of angels,” is another belter. It kicks off with blazing, almost blackened riffing and Leach’s fevered screams scratching over the top of the assault (he even sounds like Tomas Lindberg on these sections). After a near minute and a half of this, the tempo shifts and glides into relentless, focused chugging before melting into a brief spoken word passage. After more shifts and transitions, the track ends with glistening, delicate picking patterns, akin of Misery Signals or Life in Your Way.

This is seriously impressive, not just the fact that Leach is back, but that he has been able to assemble a group of musicians capable of taking his voice to levels that perhaps he couldn’t have attained with Killswitch. What’s more, there is a decidedly progressive feel to the material on Awaken, and even more poignant is that despite the album’s heavy usage of melody, there is no “My Last Serenade,” or “Rose of Sharyn” pop singles, which to be frank, they could have filled the album with.

I could go on further dissecting the musical marvels but you should do yourself the service of going and grabbing this gem whilst it’s still a secret (or maybe I am just too disconnected from the media machine these days).