Background and career
Adam Jonathan Dutkiewicz (born April 4, 1977) is an American musician and record producer. He is the lead guitarist of the metalcore bands Killswitch Engage, Aftershock and Times of Grace, as well as the guitarist and co-lead vocalist for the melodic death metal supergroup Serpentine Dominion. He has also produced and engineered albums for several other metal bands.
Dutkiewicz, of Polish, Austrian, Scottish, and English descent, was born and raised in Westhampton, Massachusetts. Growing up he taught himself Metallica riffs on bass and later learned how to play the drums and lastly the guitar. He attended Hampshire Regional High School. Dutkiewicz also later attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying production, audio engineering, and bass guitar. He graduated with a B.M. in 1999. While at college, he began playing guitar and producing for the band Aftershock with his brother Tobias Dutkiewicz and friend Joel Stroetzel. The group's debut album Letters was released in 1997, this was also the first ever recorded Dutkiewicz produced. The group released one more album in 1999 before shortly disbanding.
Following the disbandment of Aftershock in 1999. Dutkiewicz began collaborating with former Overcast bassist Mike D'Antonio and vocalist Jesse Leach to form Killswitch Engage Dutkiewicz, now playing drums, also recruited guitarist Joel Stroetzel to complete the line up. Dutkiewicz was the drummer of Killswitch Engage, until the release of its second album, Alive or Just Breathing, when he moved to guitar, and Tom Gomes became the band's drummer. In 2004 Dutkiewicz and the band would release their breakthrough album The End of Heartache. Dutkiewicz later commented on this time in a 2019 interview “The moment we were told that we were going to be featured in one of the Resident Evil movies, I realized that people were paying attention to us.” “It was a whole new world that opened up so many possibilities and potentials, so I think we did step it up. It was a good time for us.” During the recording of their certified platinum As Daylight Dies, Dutkiewicz pushed the band to relax their perfectionist habits that he instilled into theme during previous recordings. Part of loosening up was having more casual, relaxed recording sessions. Overall he has assumed the role of producer on all of Killswitch Engage's records, except on their second self-titled album Killswitch Engage, which was released June 30, 2009. For this album he took on the job of co-producer alongside Brendan O'Brien (known for his work with AC/DC, The Offspring, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, Incubus, Mastodon, and Stone Temple Pilots). He returned to full production work for their next album Disarm the Descent in 2013 and Incarnate (2016), which is the band’s highest charting album peaking at number 6 on the Billboard 200. While Killswitch Engage was writing material for their next album Atonement lead singer Jesse Leach was suffering from both physical and mental issues. So Dutkiewicz took him aside and offered words of inspiration and help him finish laying down the tracks, Leach has described Dutkiewicz as his “musical soul mate”. Their most recent album This Consequence was released in 2025.
While touring with KillSwitch Engage in 2007 Dutkiewicz had to undergo immediate back surgery. While in the hospital, he wrote new material which he later recorded and demoed at home. Dutkiewicz later contacted Jesse Leach about writing lyrics and recording vocals. This resulted in a side project called Times of Grace, they began recording material in 2008 with Dutkiewicz stating on the group's Myspace that the songs were "an epic mix of Metal/Rock/Pop/Shoe gaze & Punk. Their debut album The Hymn of a Broken Man was released in 2011. In 2021 the group released their second album Songs of Loss and Separation as a celebration of The Hymn of a Broken Man's tenth anniversary.
Dutkiewicz first got into engineering when he bought a four-track cassette recorder, he then continued working on his skills during his time at Berklee. Besides Killswitch Engage he has also produced for the bands As I Lay Dying, Underøath, The Devil Wears Prada, The Acacia Strain, Unearth, All That Remains, From Autumn to Ashes, Johnny Truant, Parkway Drive, The Agony Scene, Every Time I Die and others. He has been compared to Ross Robinson, producer of many nu metal albums, because of his influence on modern metal and shaping the sound of melodic metalcore. He is viewed as one of the more pivotal figures in helping shaping the genres sound, and has produced some of the more influential albums of the genre such as Alive or Just Breathing, The Fall of Ideals, and The On Coming Storm. He is also an engineer for Zing Recording Studios, which has produced for numerous artists, including several from Tooth & Nail Records and its heavy metal sub-label Solid State Records. When it comes to helping artists reach their goals he stated “I listen,” “You hear what the personality of the band is. You listen for their strengths and traits. You want to embellish upon those. If somebody can do something that no one else can or has a specific talent, make sure the world hears it. And when you find something that takes away from the quality of the song––the groove, the ebb and the flow––always address that with the band.”
In 2002, Dutkiewicz, alongside Robby Roadsteamer, Ken Susi and his brother Tobias, formed The Sweatpant Boners. They released one album before breaking up that same year. In 2003 he would once again join Ken Susi along with Derek Kerswill to form Burn Your Wishes. This group also only made one album before disbanding. In late 2003, Dutkiewicz became a touring member for Unearth playing the drums as they searched for a permanent replacement for their previous drummer. In 2009, Dutkiewicz wrote songs for George Fisher and asked him to perform vocals over them. This eventually led to Dutkiewicz forming Serpentine Dominion consisting of Fisher and Shannon Lucas. They released their debut self titled later that same year. In December 2024, it was announced Dutkiewicz and his former Killswitch Engage bandmate Howard Jones were almost finished mixing a debut album for their new band called Burn Eternal.
