Inconsistent, yes. Insignificant? Maybe.

Well, here we are again, months between entries. But that's okay. This is something I do for shits and giggles, I'm not graded on it, I'm not paid to do it. Everything is always easier when you do it because you want to do it, not because you have to, not because you're expected to. But just because.

Occasionally something in my life will happen, be it political, social, cultural, artistic, that will give me something to say. Let me get this right off the bat before I get into the reason for this dispatch from CapCity

A) Tragedy struck the DC area today, as two trains collided on the metro near Fort Totten and Takoma Park. Six people are dead, and MANY more are injured, and my heart goes out to the families of those who've lost loved ones. As far as I know, nobody that I knew was involved; time will tell. Reminds me that, hey, bad things happen and we can't let ourselves forget that things can change in a second

B) Iran, the 800 pound gorilla in the room. It is a terrible thing to read every day that more die in street clashes because of a contested election. I want to hope that a revolution happens in Iran, that will bring the country into real democracy. However, this democracy can not come from the west. What changes happen in the country must come from within; One must remember that it was the United States who installed the Shah on what was a thriving democracy in the 1950s. It was this meddling that resulted in the reactionary Islamic Revolution and the subsequent hostage crisis. Humanitarian aid would be fine should the need arise; nothing more.

Anyway, enough of my current events opining and the time has come for me to discuss something that I have more than merely cursory knowledge of, and that is music.

Every now and then I get the cockamamie idea to listen to something that was, at one time in my life, highly influential, that I tend to have shifted away from in the ensuing years. Occasionally it holds up, occasionally it's difficult to listen to, but I never regret those albums, as they all had an effect on how I would hear music and think about music.

However, occasionally there is an album from the past that I will hear again, and realize how incredibly well it holds up. Today was one of those occasions, and that album is the 2002 Roadrunner Records debut from Massachusets-based metal/hardcore band Killswitch Engage, entitled Alive or Just Breathing. At the time this record was released, they were part of a scene that was only starting to rear its head in the American music scene, before America finally started producing quality metal bands again. Before then, the only good metal bands were European, or at least as far as I was concerned. Then I heard some music from their first album and thought KsE were Swedish.

Then came this record. I kind of expected a much more Swedish death metal sound, and was surprised when I heard riffs that were much closer to sounding a bit like hardcore bands like Hatebreed or Madball, but still had strong metal roots. This was before it became standard to combine tough-guy hardcore breakdowns and attitudes with metal riffage.

What really stuck out to me about Alive was how melodic and positive and spiritual it is. I mention the band Hatebreed; while a lot of their lyrics have a positive message hidden under lyrical bile, Killswitch's lyrics are so clearly born of a love, passion, and spiritual connection to the human race.

Original vocalist Jesse David Leach had something special that was at its best on this album, which proved to be his last with the band, as throat issues and family commitments forced him off the road. He was capable of blood-curdling shrieks, hell-hound growls, and one of the most wrenchingly beautiful singing voices ever heard in metal or hardcore. He combined all of these elements in such a way that takes this band and album far beyond anything released since, just in terms of emotional depth.

The musicianship is also astounding. From a guitarist's perspective, this album has some insanely muscular riffing that is equally galloping and stomping, savage and sweepingly melodic. This band also uses dynamics astoundingly well, opening three songs with gently strummed acoustic passages before letting loose with brutal modern riffs.

Often times, the guitars, bass and drums lock in on unison grooves that echo, to a certain extent, the machine-like precision of Fear Factory.

Now I would like to discuss one of the best-recorded heavy metal guitar tones of all time. Joel Stroetzl and Adam Dutkiewicz manage to have this GUT BUSTING guitar tone that does not fuzz out, it's not scooped out like lots of other metal bands, and it is so tight and articulate that even the fastest, lowest notes are distinguishable.

The rhythm section is also fantastic. Dutkiewicz, who I believe played most drums on the record, hits the double bass drums as well as the best death metal skinsman, and they propel the tracks into high gear.

Every song on this record is a keeper, full of chunky riffs, uplifting lyrics, and killer grooves and breakdowns. Somehow, they managed to find the perfect combination of horn-throwing metal and soul-clutching emotional hardcore. Tracks like "Numbered Days," "My Last Serenade," "Just Barely Breathing" and "Temple from Within" feel like life-affirming self-sacrifice, followed by being purified in crystal waters. It shreds the sould into sinewy strands before the ultimate healing.

The best song, by far, on the album, "The Element of One," is the culmination of everything great about this band. It begins with a gentle acoustic passage, that gives way into a hammering rhythmic chug, with a melodic yet savage lead guitar pattern, before a Tyranasaurus-sized riff and a harrowing growl from Leach gets the song going at maximum power. Meanwhile, Leach's lyrics proclaim his desire to see someone (supposedly his wife), and proclaiming his love for this entity. "This is for you," he shouts during the bridge, "Everything I am/This is for you/take it from me." Then, the band soars during the chorus as he commands, "Breathe me in, I'm forever, breathe me in, I'm eternal." Equally heart-rending and beautiful.

After a gorgeously whispered bridge behind an understated acoustic guitar pattern, a throat-shredding scream gives way to a palm-muted guitar melody that comes the closest to a guitar solo on this album that serves as the perfect crescendo to an amazing song, before an excellent bridge section that has the band channeling classic epic metal gallops of old. The song finally ends with a lone bass figure, and it would be no surprise if listeners were drenched in sweat after hearing this in their homes or their cars.

The album goes on after that, and the rest of the songs sound great. But this, in my opinion, was the song that made the album as influential on me and Dave as it was, and this was the song on the album that he and I listened to EVERY DAY as we went through Hardcore Puberty.

Needless to say, I think this album holds up incredibly well. Every song still gets me the way they did when I bought the album back in 2003, and this album stands up far beyond any of those other hardcore and "metalcore" records that I bought then and since. I feel it is safe to say that this record will always hold a place on my playlist, and may actually hold a place in my Desert Island Discs collection.

For fans of heavy, passionate and melodic metal/hardcore, this is the album that can not be beat and must be listened to.