“The End of Heartache” by Killswitch Engage

"The End of Heartache" is the title track of Killswitch Engage's third album, a 2004 Roadrunner release, and the second single from it, the one that finally carried the metalcore band out past the pit. It's a slow build rather than a blitz, trading some of the group's feral hardcore churn for a hook with room to breathe and a chorus that aims straight for the rafters.

Guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz wanted to try something the band had never attempted, a song that would land with a lot of people at once, but he says he didn't bend his writing toward the commercial: he wrote what sounded cool to him and let the singer, Howard, lift it into the sky. The words dig into lost love and the ache it leaves behind. It became their breakthrough, climbing to 31 on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.