| CD REVIEW Converge |
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Band : Converge Often referred to as being Mathcore, Converge’s music is made up from a conglomerate of influences taken from Hardcore Punk and (Extreme) Metal (influencial bands cited include Black Flag, negative Approach, Born Against, Black Sabbath, Godflesh, Slayer, Entombed, Rorshach, and Starkweater) which has made ‘em popular among a certain amount of music lovers since their 1991 demo, and which helped define the basics of modern day (US) Metalcore! This early incarnation of the band’s more “simplistic” style can be heard on the studio albums (issued through Equal Vision) Halo In The Haystack (1994), Petitioning The Empty Sky (1998) and When Forever Comes Crashing (also 1998) and a host of split releases (usually released through singer Jacob Bannon’s own label Deathwish Inc.). Over the years guitarist/ backing singer Kurt Ballou also incorporated influences from Progressive music in his playing style, after he’d found out drummer Ben Koller (joined in 1999-2000, formerly of Force Fed Glass) was listening to that kind of music. Those additionall influences certainly made themselves heard on the ensuing releases, starting with 2001’s Jane Doe (which not only marked an increase in the band’s popularity, and the exit of second guitarist Aaron Dalbec…Ballou handling all guitars from then on…but also the start of a producing career for Ballou, who’s since become an in-demand producer in the genre) and continued in 2004’s You Fail Me and 2006’s No Heroes, the band’s last album to date, and a source of some personal bad feelings at the time of release (ya see, our editor-in-chief had elected to have the album reviewed by one of our “free-lance” collaborators, and it turned out to be her debut with the band, while I, already in posession of some of the band’s albums, could’ve been called an informed fan at the time!). Anyway, it’s been 3 years since that last release again, and this time around the guys (besides the 3 already mentioned, there’s also bassist/ backing singer Nate Newton, whom joined the band somewhere in 1998 or so) decided to make work, or rather, take out time, to make an old wish…namely to invite to the studio several guest musicians which they admire and have worked with…come true! So, in order of appearance on the album, you’ll find Sean Martin (Hatebreed) perform lead guitar and backing vocals on the track “Reap What You Sow”; George Hirsch (Blacklisted) bringing backing vocals to the album’s title track; Steve Brodsky (a former Converge member), Adam McGrath, and J.R. Connors (all of Cave-In, the latter also of Doomriders) respectively providing lead guitar, aadditional guitar, and drums; Uffe cederlund (Disfear) bringing lead guitar & backing vocals to “Wishing Well”; Tim Cohen (108) playing lead guitar on “Damages”; John Pettibone (Undertow, Himsa) performing backing vocals on “Cutter”; Steve Von Till (Neurosis) singing lead vocals on “Cruel Bloom”, track on which Aimee Argote (Des Ark), Chris Taylor (Genghis Tron) and “The Rodeo” also perform backing vocals; and finally the song “Wretched World” guests Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman on lead vocals and keyboard, Hamilton Jordan on backing guitar, and Michael Sochynsky on keyboard, while Brad Fickeisen (The Red Chord) and J.R. Connors provide backings on the drums. Leaving 5 of the 13 tracks without guest musician appearances! As per usual on their records of the new millenium (and each one a must-have for the more broad-minded Hardcore, metal, or all-round music fan) the band has alternated a majority of high-paced (heavier)tracks with a couple of calmer, occasionally even etheric songs. In that last category, Axe To Fall delivers gems like the heavier “Worms Will Feed/ Rats Will Feast” and “Damages”, while the album closing tracks “Cruel Bloom” and “Wretched World” represent the calmer side of the band (take that with a bit of salt, because the guitars may boom out of your speakers with àny of these aformentioned tracks)! If you’ve never heard of Converse before, but are into modern (US) Metalcore, and would like to know where your favouriite bands found the mustard…if you’re into a wonderful blending of musical genres…if you’re open-mended enough to try out something quite exhileratingly new…then by all means check out what the band has posted on their MySpace page (off the new album, you’ll only find the titlle track at this moment, but if you’re already a fan of the band and had been checking their page in anticipation of the album’s release, you would’ve found that in August of last, the band made the album opening track “Dark Horse” available as a free download, followed by the album title track in September, and one week before the release the complete album was made available for streaming. The album is expected to get a vinyl release through Deathwish Inc. later this year (and I, for one, am already telling the record store attendant to save me a copy)! In other words : “Best Album Of 2009”-list material, and to be somewhere up, up, UP there in that list! 98/100 Tony. |