Killswitch Engage - My Curse

2006

Killswitch Engage - My Curse (2006) Director: Lex Halaby Era: Mid-2000s Metalcore Mainstream Breakthrough (2006) - Peak era of melodic metalcore crossover into mainstream rock radio, anchored by Roadrunner Records and MTV2 Headbangers Ball exposure High curatorial value as a confirmed, director-verified artifact from the precise moment melodic metalcore achieved mainstream chart viability. The video is visually distinctive within its genre, eschewing the standard performance-in-a-warehouse format in favor of a surrealist narrative, and serves as a primary document of mid-2000s heavy music visual culture, MTV2 broadcast aesthetics, and the commercial compromises that defined the era's crossover moment. Context: Released in November 2006 as the lead single from 'As Daylight Dies,' 'My Curse' arrived at the apex of metalcore's mainstream penetration. Killswitch Engage, operating from Westfield, Massachusetts on Roadrunner Records, had already broken through with 'The End of Heartache' in 2004; 'My Curse' surpassed that peak, reaching #21 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The video debuted on MTV2's Headbangers Ball, the primary broadcast vehicle for heavy music in the era, signaling the genre's institutional legitimacy. The track's radio edit, stripping screamed vocals entirely, exemplifies the commercial negotiation metalcore bands navigated to achieve crossover airplay without fully abandoning their sonic identity. Ultimate Guitar later named it the most era-defining metalcore song of the 2000s. Director notes: The 'My Curse' video premiered on MTV2's Headbangers Ball on November 3, 2006, ahead of the album's November 21 release on Roadrunner Records. The video adopts a magical realism narrative structure: a man in a darkened study discovers a KSE-branded book that acts as a portal to a sunlit field containing a woman in white, symbolizing longing and loss. The visual duality, warm golden exteriors vs. cool dimly lit interiors, directly reinforces the song's emotional themes. The video notably features a radio edit version of the song in which unclean vocals are replaced with clean re-recordings by Howard Jones, making it more accessible for broadcast. Guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz noted in a Kerrang! interview that the band had little involvement in the video's creative direction, describing the experience of performance-based shoots as something the band generally disliked.