Invariably within every scene or genre the talent pool begins to run dry, the market becomes so saturated that it is nearly impossible to get a breath of fresh air with so many stale sounding acts in one close quartered space. With "The End Of Heartache", one would begin to assume that the high-watermark for such a predicament has just been passed. Killswitch Engage are often highly touted as one of the leaders of the 'New Wave Of American Heavy Metal' movement, a position earned thanks to constant touring and an immense push from their label Roadrunner Records in support of their last effort, the impressive "Alive Or Just Breathing". Much has changed since that album was written however as the band have gained a new frontman in the form of Blood Has Been Shed's Howard Jones; and have achieved unprecedented commercial success by selling over 100,000 copies of the aforementioned effort in the U.S. alone.

Whether or not attaining such success or being the golden boys of so many magazines and video programs affected the directional shift found here is anyone's guess, but one thing is for sure, something is definitely missing on this album. In essence "The End Of Heartache" comes off as a rushed experiment, with infrequent moments of genius and ample failed attempts and bursts of well-worn mediocrity. On one hand there is a beefy dosage of death metal styled grit, complete with the traces of thrash and metalcore tenacity that got the band to where they are in the first place. On the other there is a thinly veiled push towards now derivative sounding Swedish oriented metal and a liberal incorporation of sappy melodically sung choruses one would expect to find on an album from bands like Extreme or Whitesnake, rather than on that of one of the frontrunners of the current metal scene. Still, even with such elements at play, a few tracks do stand out and clearly show the ferocity and intricate song-writing that made this band so menacing and invigorating on their first two albums.

The diversity, increased usage of acoustic instrumentation and dynamic vocal juxtaposition, not to mention clever layering, all found here show much progress from the band; who always seems to benefit from the rock-solid production of guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz. But in the end it isn't enough to combat the fact that more than half the songs included formulaically erupt into bloated balladry or clustered breakdowns and bridges. As such the bulk of "The End Of Heartache" can seem uninspiring and rashly assembled, desperately trying to expand, yet choking on the tired elements it is ingesting to power itself. Sure it's catchy and accomplished, sounding hungry in ways one wouldn't expect, but is that really enough to earn praise in this crowded corner of the metal spectrum in 2004? For a generation raised on minimalist bands like Nirvana and Korn it might, but to those who cut their teeth on Metallica and Slayer cassettes, what is offered here generally comes off as old hat.