Welcome back to another video edition of Crate Digging, our recurring feature that finds artists digging into their crates of personal tastes. This time, Killswitch Engage singer Jesse Leach names 10 punk albums that have had a profound influence on him.
Killswitch Engage are ramping up for a big year in 2025. The metal band will release its ninth album, This Consequence, on February 21st, and support the LP with a headlining North American tour kicking off March 5th in Nashville.
Get Killswitch Engage Tickets Here
In advance of the LP and the tour, Killswitch Engage singer Jesse Leach caught up with Consequence (no relation to the album) to share and discuss 10 punk albums that have greatly influenced him.
While Leach has made a living in a metal band, he grew up on punk rock. That said, Killswitch are one of the pioneers of metalcore — a combination of metal and hardcore — and hardcore rose out of punk rock, so there’s a natural connection.
As you’ll see in the video above or the list below, Leach’s picks are primarily culled from the late ’70s (Dead Boys and Stiff Little Fingers) and ’80s (GBH, The Clash, Operation Ivy, and more), with one notable exception from just a few years ago.
While Leach developed a passion for punk music as a youngster, he also let us know that it was The Beatles that first truly impacted him as a kid musically. “The first [music] where the light bulb went off over my head, where it wasn’t just a background thing, and I was really paying attention was The Beatles. My dad loved The Beatles. To me in particular, it was Abbey Road, which is my favorite Beatles record.”
Watch the video above and see the list below to find out Jesse Leach’s picks for the punk albums that influenced him the most, along with his descriptions of each LP. And catch Killswitch Engage on their upcoming North American tour (pick up tickets via Ticketmaster or StubHub).
Trouble viewing the video above? Watch on YouTube.