KILLSWITCH ENGAGE SETLIST

Strength of the Mind
Rose of Sharyn
Reckoning
Aftermath
Numbered Days
This Is Absolution
No End in Sight
Collusion
Hate by Design
Forever Aligned
The Signal Fire
I Believe
The Arms of Sorrow
In Due Time
This Fire
My Curse
The End of Heartache
My Last Serenade

KUBLAI KHAN TX SETLIST

Supreme Ruler
Theory of Mind
Low Tech
Resentment
Boomslang
Darwinism
Swan Song
Cannibal
Loyal to None
The Hammer
Self-Destruct
Antpile
Antpile 2

FROZEN SOUL SETLIST

Encased in Ice
Invisible Tormentor
Death and Glory
Morbid Effigy
Arsenal of War
Crypt of Ice

FIT FOR A KING SETLIST

Eyes Roll Back
Technium
End (The Other Side)
Reaper
Keeping Secrets
Backbreaker
Shattered Glass
Breaking the Mirror
When Everything Means Nothing
God of Fire

KILLSWITCH ENGAGE TOUR DATES

APR 1 GLC Live at 20 Monroe Grand Rapids, MI
APR 3 The Corbin Arena Corbin, KY
APR 4 Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA
APR 5 Franklin Music Hall Philadelphia, PA
APR 6 Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, NC
APR 8 College Street Music Hall New Haven, CT
APR 9 Buffalo RiverWorks Buffalo, NY
APR 11 Place Bell Laval, Canada
APR 12 Cross Insurance Arena Portland, ME
MAY 8 Sonic Temple Art & Music Festival Columbus, OH
MAY 10 Egyptian Room Indianapolis, IN
MAY 11 Minglewood Hall Memphis, TN
MAY 13 Fillmore New Orleans, LA
MAY 14 Avondale Brewing Company Birmingham, AL
MAY 16 Welcome to Rockville Daytona Beach, FL
MAY 17 House of Blues North Myrtle Beach, SC
MAY 18 The Dome Virginia Beach, VA
JUN 21 Summer of Loud West Palm Beach, FL
JUN 22 Summer of Loud Tampa, FL
JUN 24 Summer of Loud Atlanta, GA
JUN 26 Summer of Loud Dallas, TX
JUN 27 Summer of Loud Austin, TX
JUN 28 Summer of Loud The Woodlands, TX
JUL 1 Summer of Loud Phoenix, AZ
JUL 2 Summer of Loud San Diego, CA
JUL 5 Summer of Loud Irvine, CA
JUL 6 Summer of Loud Concord, CA
JUL 8 Summer of Loud West Valley City, UT
JUL 9 Summer of Loud Denver, CO
JUL 11 Summer of Loud Somerset, WI
JUL 12 Summer of Loud Green Bay, WI
JUL 13 Summer of Loud Tinley Park, IL
JUL 15 Summer of Loud Toronto, Canada
JUL 16 Summer of Loud Clarkston, MI
JUL 18 Inkcarceration Music & Tattoo Festival Mansfield, OH
JUL 19 Summer of Loud North York, PA
JUL 20 Summer of Loud Wantagh, NY
JUL 22 Summer of Loud Mansfield, MA
JUL 23 Summer of Loud Camden, NJ
JUL 24 Summer of Loud Holmdel, NJ
JUL 26 Summer of Loud Bristow, VA
JUL 27 Summer of Loud Charlotte, NC

When the choices are truth or consequences, take This Consequence every time!

Massachusetts metalcore masters Killswitch Engage led an all-you-can-head bang to, rock buffet of four bands to combine for a full and satisfying evening as their 2025 North American Tour landed in downtown Kansas City at the Midland Theatre.

The three-time Grammy-nominated hard rockers (Jesse Leach, vocals; Adam Dutkiewicz, guitar; Joel Stroetzel, guitar; Mike D’Antonio, bass; and Justin Foley, drums) are back on the road, in support of their brand-new 10-track album, “This Consequence” which was released February 21 via Metal Blade Records. This is the band’s ninth studio album and comes after a long six-year gap since 2019’s “Atonement”, so it was easy to tell that their live return was highly anticipated by the fans.

Leading off the four-band bill was Fit for a King, a Tyler TX metalcore band, taking a break from the studio and finishing their new 13-track record, expected later this year as a follow-up to their previous release, 2022’s “The Hell We Create”. The band has released a couple of recent singles though, to whet appetites for the new music, “Keeping Secrets” and “Technium”, both of which were set-included.

They’ve taken their time with the new record, which will reportedly include a (gasp!) ballad among the tracks, but the two recent songs show their familiar sound will continue as well.

Next up was another Texas metal band, Frozen Soul, who are newer to the scene (active since 2018, though singer Chad Green drummed for bands like End Times as far back as 2007) and play a chilly classic form of old school death metal (OSDM).

Their well-named album, “Glacial Domination” is out now via Century Media and expect no sunny day songs in the set when you’ve got “Death and Glory” and “Morbid Effigy” (both fine names for similar bands, btw) but we know, that’s not what we signed up for. Their set was high-energy, and the band does get comparisons to Bolt Thrower and similar, but you’ll just have to see them live yourself, to fully decide.

Another Texas band (…seeing a pattern here…) was next in line, the explosive Kublai Khan TX led by Matt Honeycutt on vocals and out in support of their latest, last year’s “Exhibition of Prowess” (on Rise Records) and its single, “Supreme Ruler”. (Being mostly MN-based, we always got them confused with the area thrash band of the same name, who was active in the mid-80s, disbanded, then re-formed in 2003).

Honeycutt commanded the stage as he brutally stomped from one side to the other, and the crowd was happy to oblige, collectively chanting to the songs and churning in the one rhythmic flow of the front pit. As well as rocking out, the band isn’t afraid to be socially conscious lyrically, on songs like “The Hammer” (which touches on social anxiety), “Swan Song” (violence against women), “Darwinism” (their take on natural selection) and “Self-Destruct” (about the toxicity of online interactions).

Finally, it was time for the headliner, and Killswitch Engage did not disappoint those that had waited years to see the band live again. Although serious about their music (as evidenced by encouraging the vortex of the pit and the crowd surfers, the band has a light comedic side as well, with Adam Dutkiewicz sporting an “I’m with Stupid” shirt and goading the crowd playfully by cracking jokes during breaks.

Vocalist Leach generally keeps things hopeful between songs and, like the best metal bands, celebrates the commonality of a shared love of the genre, and encourages a sense of extended family and unity that everyone’s in together.

The band opened their headlining set with 2016’s “Strength of the Mind” and would work in just four tracks from the newest record but having over two-and-a-half decades of material, means that you can’t unfortunately play everything. But they did manage to work in two of their three Grammy-nominated songs which thrilled the fans- “In Due Time” and their 2005 classic, “The End of Heartache”, which dates back to Howard Jones’ (no, not the synth-pop guy) stint as lead vocalist when Leach had departed.

Their set would build with ferocity towards the end, with the mid-00’s “This Fire”, then “My Curse” (with Leach and the audience repeating “this is my curse!” and to end the song, “there is love!”), the aforementioned “End of the Heartache,” and ending appropriately with 2002’s “My Last Serenade” – a song about having to sometimes burn bridges with the ones you love, and the breakthrough track that introduced the band to the world and imprinted their sustaining influence upon the genre.

All Photos below by JASON DOMINGUES

(click on any image to enlarge and see in full)