Roadrunner "The End of Heartache" - Killswitch Engage

Here's the record where the world met Mr. Howard Jones and the rest is history. To say the pressure was on to follow up the already near-classic "Alive or Just Breathing" is a massive understatement. How would the gargantuan voiced Blood Has Been Shed frontman measure up to the standard set by his predecessor Jesse Leach? Better than anyone expected.
"Heartache" took the blueprint that "Alive or Just Breathing" started and made it heavier. The Dutkiewicz/Stroezel riffs are humungous. New drummer (and fellow BHBS dude) Justin Foley and founding bassist Mike D. demonstrate a bit more rhythmic diversity. However it's down to Jones who gave it the voice to connect with a bigger audience than his predecessor.
Jones had something that no one in the scene around KsE had -- soul.
Who'd have thought that this album was going to break Killswitch through on a massive scale? A Grammy nomination. A gold record. Holding their own on tours with the likes of Slayer or Ozzfest. The record connected. Audiences pumped their fists to the likes of "When Darkness Falls" while couples sang (definitely out of tune) to "The End of Heartache". The record also boasts "Rose of Sharyn", still one of the band's best songs to date.
"The End of Heartache" remains not merely one of KsE's greatest works to date, but one of the great metal records of our age.