‘It’s Not About The Individual’: Jesse Leach On The Enduring Force Of Killswitch Engage

21 October 2026 12:48 PM

Ahead of Killswitch Engage’s highly anticipated Australian tour with Sylosis, vocalist Jesse Leach discusses the existential crisis behind ‘This Consequence,’ ambient music, his hatred of AI slop, and sharing the stage with Iron Maiden.

Killswitch Engage(Credit: Travis Shinn)

Killswitch Engage Profile

For Killswitch Engage, the theme of their last couple of years as a band has been revitalisation.

Of course, Killswitch Engage have been a popular band for a long time. Known for hard-hitting riffs, melodic singalongs, dynamic heavy metal song structures, and sung-and-screamed vocals, the American metalcore outfit formed in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1999.

Jesse Leach was the band’s founding vocalist, but he left after recording and touring behind two albums. The band welcomed Howard Jones, and in 2004 they rose to fame with The End of Heartache, peaking at #21 on the US Billboard 200 and earning Gold certification.

Their follow-up LP, As Daylight Dies, was certified Platinum in the US and features the Platinum-selling single, My Curse.

After Jones’ departure in 2012, Leach returned to the fold and has fronted the band’s last four albums. 2013’s Disarm the Descent, the band’s first record since Leach’s return, debuted in the top 10 in the US. While Killswitch Engage have amassed multiple Grammy Award nominations, the incredible reception to their latest album, last year’s This Consequence, means more to Leach when the fans drive it.

Released six years after their previous album, 2019’s Atonement, This Consequence spawned the single I Believe, the group’s first-ever song to reach the top 10 of the US Mainstream Rock chart, peaking at #4—the album peaked at #11 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

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Leach, catching up with The Music from his home office ahead of Killswitch Engage’s upcoming Australian tour, reflects on the impact of I Believe, from the chart success to how it goes off at live shows.

“Yeah, you know, accolades are something that usually doesn’t really affect us as a band, but it still feels good,” he says. “I think the accolades I like are not the ones that are given by a select group of people; I like when it’s the fans speaking. And the fact that that song was requested as much as it was, that feels awesome.”

I Believe has become a setlist staple since its release last year, and the reception still moves Leach. “The moment that riff starts, people just—you can see it on their faces—they get stoked, they get happy, people start jumping up and down. It’s become sort of an anthem, and I’m so honoured by that.

“It feels like a positive spirit flowing through the room when that song is being played; there’s something about it. It’s just got this magic to it. I’m super proud of that song.”

Ahead of the release of This Consequence, Leach told Revolver Magazine that the album was born from examining the “existential crisis” humanity faces due to “conflict, divisions, war, deception, hatred, and dire lack of compassion.”

He explained that these themes show “cause and effect: every action has a reaction.” In short, the album title became a “loose metaphor for a reckoning or a judgement day for us as a species.”

With more than a year between the band and the release of This Consequence, Leach discusses the darkness we all see—on our phone screens, with people we know, in Australia and abroad—and how he stopped himself from being swallowed by the constant negativity. It’s easy to wonder: where does his streak of positivity come from?

“It was so obvious to me what was going on in the world, what’s still going on in the world with the divisiveness that I do believe is inflicted upon us. I do believe it’s used as a means to control, and that angers me to no end,” Leach explains.

“But it’s a righteous anger. It’s an anger that’s fuelled by sitting with the darkness and contemplating it. But then the positivity… I’m a hopeless optimist; I can’t help it. There’s something about my spirit, the way I was raised, how I see the world, that I know that love will overcome all things. I know that light will pierce through the darkness. It always does.”

Noting that the important thing is believing that light overcomes darkness, Leach looks back on the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and says it made him see the world and himself differently, and figure out who he would be outside of being a constantly touring musician.

“I had some real existential crises during that time,” he says. “But because of that, it gave me a renewed sense of purpose when we got back to it. So, writing this record felt like, this is my chance now to really step up and speak my truth.

“Again, I hate divisiveness, so I wrote every song very specifically to keep it open enough to just urge people to think for themselves and to see that there are flaws and to realise that we do have the power to change things.”

The gap between 2019’s Atonement and last year’s This Consequence marked the longest gap between Killswitch Engage albums. While six years between records raised understandable concern within the band, some of that time was intentional.

“Of course, there were concerns,” Leach notes. “But, for us, having Atonement be put on the back burner through COVID, the moment we were able to get back out and tour, we were like, ‘We’re going to promote this record.’ It never got the chance to be promoted.” So they decided new material could wait while they promoted another excellent record.

Leach adds, “And during that time, the idea of new material was there, but it didn’t really start to surface until after we had done a bunch of tours. And, you know, when I started hearing the demos for it, that’s when the fire started to brew inside of my heart, and I started to think about what I wanted to say in these lyrics.

“It was a difficult record to write because there was such quality control on this record, which is great. You know, I think we all push each other to do better. And me as a vocalist and a lyricist, I definitely had to go through a lot of quality control.

“This is the first record that I really submitted the demos to all four of the guys. A lot of the time, it’s [lead guitarist and producer] Adam [Dutkiewicz] and I coming up with an idea and then sort of presenting it when it’s pretty much done. This was me doing bare-bones demos, pre-production and giving it raw to these guys.”

Leach admits that the quality control behind This Consequence led to rewriting “at least seven songs.” He explains, “It was difficult at first, but I look back on it, and I’m happy that it went the way that it went because it forced me to sort of up my game, if you will, and to really try to elevate myself as a lyricist and a vocalist.”

The constructive criticism didn’t break Killswitch Engage; it only made them stronger. “That’s the way it should be,” Leach says.

“At the end of the day, it’s about the song. It’s about the album. It’s not about the individual, you know, because there are songs that I love that didn’t make the cut. There are songs that I love that we may never play live. You just have to let those things go and allow it to be what it is.

“There’s a collection of people doing this artistic thing, and egos need to be off the table sometimes; you’ve got to let certain things die. You’ve got to let your creative little babies die sometimes to make way for other ones, and I had to learn that. It’s a little difficult, but necessary as an artist.”

Upon the reveal of This Consequence’s album cover, what should have been an exciting, momentous part of promotion was met with online criticism from fans, some of whom alleged that it was created with generative artificial intelligence.

It’s a debate that’s roared across the music industry over the last couple of years; last week, pop star Olivia Rodrigo confirmed that her latest music video was in fact created by human beings after she received similar criticism.

Last year, Lucas Woodland, vocalist for the Welsh alternative rock/emo band Holding Absence, fired back at an AI band that overtook the real-life group on streaming services. The ABC also reported that fake songs had appeared on the profiles of Australian acts Polaris, Northlane, Alpha Wolf, and Thy Art Is Murder.

In Killswitch Engage’s case, bass player Mike D’Antonio dismissed the speculation, stating: “I killed myself making that fricking cover art, so don’t tell me I just typed some words into a computer and it popped out, cause that’s… eight months later, that’s not what happened. It took ten thousand photos and a lot of time. So, I just wanted to put that out there.”

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As soon as a question about the incident is put to Leach, he audibly expresses disgust and is resolute as he shares some thoughts on AI “slop.”

“Yeah, no, I hate it. But honestly, I get it. I mean, just look around. It’s everywhere now, and it’s very frustrating for me,” he says. “You know, if it were up to me, we’d go back to cutting and pasting and doing flyers with markers again.

“Like, I come from the school of, you do it yourself. Back in the 90s, I’d spend hours at copy places, creating art in real time to paste on telephone poles and promote my band. So, I’m part of that generation, and I love art. I love creativity. And I can’t stand this AI stuff.”

Leach can see some purposes for AI – “sorting out your budget or paying your bills or whatever” – but believes it has no place in art, creation, and music.

“The fact that you can go onto digital streaming and listen to AI artists is just awful,” he continues. “And then people liking a song, thinking ‘That’s a great song.’ And then you realise it’s AI, like, that’s a slippery slope, and I hate it. I can’t stand it.”

AI music has even made its way through Leach’s speakers while listening to radio stations on streaming services. “I’m like, ‘Wait a second. No, no, no.’ And I’ll find it, and I’m like, ‘Never again; get off my playlist,’” he shares. “I’ll ban that artist; I don’t want to hear it. Slop.”

Leach is a creative being. When he’s not busy with Killswitch Engage, he has another, somewhat surprising musical interest. Since 2020, he’s sporadically released ambient music under the moniker The Way Back Within.

It’s a type of music that’s brought him peace and eased his anxiety, so we’re all for it. “I’m super into ambient music; it’s one of my soothing mental health things, really,” Leach says. “I got into it through meditation. You put on a good ambient track, your nerves are going to change, you’re going to feel more relaxed.

“There’s just something about it; I can’t put my finger on it. But I adore and love ambient artists and ambient music. And to be able to put out a record, which I put out in 2020 during the pandemic, it was specifically to help people to soothe them.

“One song I designed sonically through the, not just the way that I played the sounds, but it’s to the heartbeat, to slow your heart rate down and to help you sleep. So, to me, it’s medicine; it’s therapy.”

Leach would “love to” release more ambient music in the future, but right now, Killswitch Engage is keeping him plenty busy. “Yeah, one day I’ll put out more. You can only find it on Bandcamp right now, but I’d love to get it over to digital media as well.”

Killswitch Engage return to Australia and New Zealand, starting this month. It’s their first headline tour on our shores since 2019 and marks their first shows since opening for Iron Maiden in arenas in 2024.

Reflecting on that tour, Leach muses, “Bruce [Dickinson] is just incredible as a vocalist, and I like his lyrics as well. And his stage presence, he’s just one of those guys who you can’t help but, you know, as a vocalist, look up to. The guy sings for three hours, and he’s in his 60s, like, incredible.

“The band as a whole have written such amazing anthems, and the beautiful guitar tone, which I think thoroughly influences us and our sound. They wrote the blueprint for what a lot of metal bands do nowadays. And the fact that they’re still operating on such a high level and playing in front of massive crowds, again, for, like, a three-hour set, it’s just unreal.

“They’re legends, and it was such an honour to tour with them, and they continue to inspire me.”

This time around, Killswitch Engage are the headliners, and the shows have been met with a phenomenal response. Shows in Auckland, Wellington, and Melbourne have sold out, with tickets moving fast to other shows and second dates announced for Auckland and Melbourne.

For their upcoming run, the US band will be joined by British heavy stars Sylosis, a decision spearheaded by Leach and his bandmates.

“It was definitely us. We saw they were available, and [singer and guitarist] Josh [Middleton] is such a talented guitarist and musician, and I admire him so much,” he says. “You know, he’s in a massive band [Architects], filling in for a while and came back to his roots, and the new record is just crazy good.”

He adds, “They’re a band that we all, the band, we’ve toured with them before. We love them as people, and we love their music. They’re a killer band. So, it was unanimous. All five of us were like, yeah, Sylosis. Totally.”

And Leach loves Australia, too, especially Australian people. “The people… There is a certain wit and humour that you all have there that I just love.

“We tend to have such a good time, not just at the shows, but going to the pubs after, just hanging around, having a good time, having a good laugh. It’s always a good time, and honestly, it feels kind of like a second home.

“We’ve been there so many times, we’ve had so many great shows, made so many friends along the way. So, it’s always fun to catch up with old friends, grab some really good food and some wine and just enjoy the culture. We feel so welcomed.”

Killswitch Engage tour Australia and New Zealand from this month into November. Tickets are available via the SBM Presents website.