TIMES OF GRACE, featuring Adam Dutkiewicz and Jesse Leach of KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, has released its second album, "Songs of Loss and Separation", via the band's own imprint label, Wicked Good Records, distributed by ADA Worldwide. A decade removed from their debut album "The Hymn Of A Broken Man", it brings the emotionally charged intensity, artistic passion, and heartfelt lyrics that fans have grown to expect from TIMES OF GRACE.
To celebrate the album's bow, the trio has just shared the video for the fourth single, "Mend You". It's an impactful song about love, loss — and ultimately — personal redemption. The video was directed by Nick Hipa and was shot in the beautiful landscape of Joshua Tree, California.
"'Mend You' is about finding yourself at a loss for words," shares Leach. "It's about the struggle to come to terms with an unraveling and falling apart. It is also about finding the will to carry on and stay loyal to your own heart, even when no one else seems to understand what you are going through. It's a song about the journey of finding a way to mend wounds and in time find a deeper sense of self love."
Dutkiewicz, who produced "Songs Of Loss And Separation" as well as the band's debut, adds: "'Mend You' is one of my favorites since the lyrics can mean different things to different people — and I know these hit our drummer Dan at an important time in his life."
Drummer Dan Glezak addresses this assertion and the song's effect on him, saying: "This is probably the most emotionally charged song on the record for me. Adam sent me a mix and I felt the instrumental section in the bridge could use a sample. I remembered a voice note that I sent to someone, which was saved on my phone, and it fell perfectly in line with Jesse's lyrics. Initially, I was scared to use something so personal, but the guys liked it, so it stuck. It's still really hard for me to hear this song but it's one of my favorites."
A handful of years in the making, "Songs Of Loss And Separation" mixes stark confessions of struggle with narrative storytelling. The music is just as expansive, with Adam handling lead vocals on several songs and Jesse experimenting with a lower vocal range reminiscent of post-punk and goth.
Speaking to Australia's Heavy about the musical direction of the new TIMES OF GRACE songs, Adam said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's probably not what KILLSWITCH fans are expecting. It's a different sound than anything we've ever done before. So, it's not metal all the way through. Sorry, everybody. This is a labor of love, truly. Obviously, it's our side project, me and Jesse, and we can only work on it when we have free time to do so. And now that Jesse's the singer for both bands, we decided to take it into a different direction a little bit. There's a lot of more rock and roll-vibe jams, so don't expect blazing death metal all over the place."
Asked if there were specific goals that he and Jesse were aiming to achieve with "Songs Of Loss And Separation", Adam said: "There weren't really any set goals except just try to create something that we liked. We wanted to something different, obviously, like I was saying. We didn't want it to feel like KILLSWITCH. We wanted to show maybe even a more personal, darker side to who we are. We wanted to create some songs more so from painful things in our lives — almost like a cathartic thing to make for us. So, yeah, it's definitely much different. Whereas KILLSWITCH is a lot on the more positive, hopeful light, this is a lot of darkness and just tough things to go through."
TIMES OF GRACE's debut album, "The Hymn Of A Broken Man", arrived in 2011, nearly a decade after Leach's exit from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, the pivotal New Wave Of American Heavy Metal band the duo co-founded with friends in 1999. The first music from TIMES OF GRACE materialized during Dutkiewicz's arduous recovery from near-crippling back surgery. A collection of songs the multi-instrumentalist and producer knew would suit his once and future bandmate. The first album earned acclaim from BBC Music, The Aquarian and Rock Sound. It willfully upended expectations, with flourishes of shoegaze and ambiance in its songs.
Photo credit: Hristo Shindov
