Killswitch Engage released “My Curse” in 2006 as the lead single from their fourth album, As Daylight Dies. The music came together easily, but guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz and vocalist Howard Jones disagreed over the chorus that ended up on the record.
Jones was already established in the band by then. He’d joined in 2002 and made his first Killswitch album with The End of Heartache in 2004. That record’s title track earned a Grammy nomination, giving the group a substantial breakthrough to follow. As Daylight Dies, released in the U.S. through Roadrunner Records on November 21, 2006, was their second studio album with Jones.
Dutkiewicz explained the writing of “My Curse” in a 2019 interview with Kerrang!. Working on his laptop, he developed the music from an opening riff and brought the completed arrangement to his bandmates for approval. The difficulty came when he challenged Jones’ chorus lyrics: Dutkiewicz wanted a stronger hook, while Jones believed his original words already worked. The disagreement went unresolved until the recording effectively settled it. Jones’ lyrics stayed. Reflecting on the response, Dutkiewicz conceded, “I guess I was fucking wrong!”
That concern with making a song’s parts work together extended beyond one argument. Speaking to Broward Palm Beach New Times in January 2008, guitarist Joel Stroetzel described how Killswitch’s writing had become more deliberate. Earlier material could grow from a riff the musicians simply jammed on; they’d since become more conscious of arrangements and where changes belonged. He compared that structural thinking to pop songwriting. Dutkiewicz was particularly likely to arrive with complete songs, Stroetzel explained, although writing remained a shared responsibility.
“My Curse” also received a distinctive visual treatment. Director Lex Halaby placed the band’s performances inside the pages of books, giving the video a setting beyond the usual rehearsal room or stage. Its television campaign quickly expanded beyond specialist metal programming. After an early-November appearance on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball, the channel scheduled it for regular rotation beginning November 13. More than 20 U.S. radio stations were already playing the single when that addition was announced.
The audience continued to grow as the album campaign moved into 2007. By February, Live Nation reported airplay on more than 60 stations and continued MTV2 rotation as Killswitch began their No Fear Music Tour. Radio and television weren’t the song’s only routes to listeners, either. “My Curse” appeared in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, putting the band’s music into a game where fans could learn its patterns with a plastic guitar controller.
Even Stroetzel tried that version. In the New Times interview, he recalled scoring around 90 percent on easy difficulty while playing his own band’s song. “It’s probably harder to play on the game than in real life!” he joked. It was a suitably Killswitch response to finding their work in a different setting: a guitarist who could play the actual part still had to learn the game.
The single’s commercial reach extended well beyond that release campaign. On September 10, 2020, the RIAA certified “My Curse” platinum in the United States.
