"The End of Heartache" is the title track and second single from Killswitch Engage's third studio album The End of Heartache.
The song became the band's breakthrough single, peaking at no. 31 on the Mainstream Rock Chart.
Stephen Hill described the song as "a slow-building epic that eschewed the Killswitch sound of savage metallic hardcore for an altogether more anthemic vibe", noting the hook as introducing new dynamics to the band. Guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz attributed the song to a desire to do something the band had never done before which would resonate with a large number of people.
Two videos were produced for the song. The video edit of the song features mostly clean singing from vocalist Howard Jones with a few background screams, much like the video for "My Curse".
The first video shows the band performing the song inter-cut with footage from Resident Evil: Apocalypse along with close-up shots of the band playing.
The second video cuts out the Resident Evil: Apocalypse footage and cuts between shots of the band performing the song.
The song was included on Revolvers list of "16 Great Non-Hair-Metal Power Ballads".
Loudwire has dubbed the song an âÂÂepic anthem that kicked metalcore to the next level.âÂÂ
In a 2018 poll held by Revolver Magazine it was voted Killswitch EngageâÂÂs fifth best song the publication added "Between Howard Jonesâ powerhouse croons, Adam DutkiewiczâÂÂs djenty licks and Justin FoleyâÂÂs relentless snare abuse, its instant-classic status â and place on this list â comes as no surprise."
The song was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to "Whiplash" by Motörhead.
The song also appeared as the theme song for the 2004 zombie action film '. More recently the professional wrestler Roderick Strong, has used End of Heartache as his theme song on numerous occasions, most recently in All Elite Wrestling.