SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT: CONVERGE, UNDEFINABLE HEROES

Dude. What fucking kind of music are you supposed to tell people Converge play? I know the traditionalist answer is “hardcore,” and there’s certainly no shortage of that subgenre’s DIY mentality within the band (to say nothing of their raucous live shows, which certainly have the aesthetic and feel of a hardcore gig), but that doesn’t seem to really cover all the ground; the band are confessed metalheads and the Slayer element is undeniable, although to call Converge “metalcore” somehow seems like an insult in light of all the negative connotations that go with that tag.

So why don’t we just go with “extreme?” Because no matter what type of music Converge are playing – and their history shows they have a much wider range than many give them credit for – it exists, always and without fail, at the outermost reaches of the aural spectrum.

Although the band’s popularity seems to have skyrocketed in recent years, Converge actually formed way back in 1990 and, after a series of demos and self-released collections, made their proper debut in 1994 with Halo in a Haystack – but even that album functioned as a sort of false start, as eight of its ten songs were re-recorded in 1997’s for Caring and Killing. Personally, I find this album interesting only from a historical perspective; in other words, this to me sounds very much like a band still finding itself. Although the songs are not without their merit – Converge are one of those bands for whom raw, unpolished production (courtesy of guitarist Kurt Ballou) is a bona fide aesthetic that albums like St. Anger can only hope, and miserably fail, to achieve – they’re somewhat more traditionalist, less challenging exercises in punk-flavored alt-rock. Put more simply: they’re not lacking credibility so much as they are character. Listening to them now, it’s almost difficult to believe that this is the same band so many of us now hold in such high regard.

Converge, “Two Day Romance” – from Caring and Killing (Hydra Head, 1997)

Converge, “Fact Leaves Its Ghost” – from Caring and Killing (Hydra Head, 1997)

Converge, “Zodiac” – from Caring and Killing (Hydra Head, 1997)

A song like “Zodiac” actually might be the closest thing this band ever did to really traditional hardcore – because by the time that they released Petitioning the Empty Sky later that same year, they had already begun their evolution into the nastier motherfucker we all know and love today. Front man Jacob Bannon’s vocals were already more coarse, screechier – imagine a vulture hacking its guts up and you might get some idea of what the dude sounds like – and while the riffs were tighter and owed a greater debt to thrash masters Slayer, the music somehow seemed sloppier, more genuinely unhinged. And a track like the seven-minute plus “The Saddest Day” illustrates the band’s band’s ability to take a more progressive stance towards punk and hardcore.

Converge, “Color Me Blood Red” – from Petitioning the Empty Sky (Equal Vision, 1997)

Converge, “The Saddest Day” – from Petitioning the Empty Sky (Equal Vision, 1997)

Indeed, parts of Petitioning the Empty Sky would be ripped off by every metalcore act this side of the North East over the course of the following five to ten years.

The band released another album, When Forever Comes Crashing, a year later, but I’d argue that things really began to get interesting with The Poacher Diaries, the band’s 1999 split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Although the material on this album still bears some of the chugga-chug hallmarks of metalcore that Converge would eventually abandon as they became de rigeur amongst the Hot Topic crowd, the opening tracks on the band’s half of the album, “Locust Reign” and “This is Mine,” are under two-minute grindcore gems (as befitting a record shared with grindmasters like AN). Meanwhile, trippy, nightmarish tracks like “They Stretch for Miles” and “Minnesota” would hint at my favorite Converge song of all time… but we’ll come to that in a few moments.

Converge, “Locust Reign” – from The Poacher Diaries (split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Relapse, 1999)

Converge, “Minnesota” – from The Poacher Diaries (split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Relapse, 1999)

Well, I have no idea what the fuck happened in between The Poacher Diaries and 2001’s Jane Doe, but fuckin’ A – Jane Doe is an honest-to-God masterpiece, arguably still the band’s finest hour and the album that cemented their place as a real deal force to be reckoned with in the world of extreme music. The entire band is on fire, and the band added more elements of “math” to the list of cores they already specialized in. Bannon – who also designed the now iconic album cover – sounds absolutely 110% full of rage, and the music makes you absolutely want to fucking murder someone in the most violent fucking way fucking imaginable. “Concubine” is just one sudden, raw explosion of pure anger; the riff that powers the chorus of “Homewrecker” has been ripped off so many times it makes my head hurt; “Bitter and Then Some” is another killer grinder, while the epic title track, “Jane Doe,” is still considered by many to be the band’s unequivocal masterpiece. It’s also their last with second guitarist Aaron Dalbec, who has never been replaced since the band booted him.

Converge, “Concubine” – from Jane Doe (Equal Vision, 2001)

Converge, “Homewrecker” – from Jane Doe (Equal Vision, 2001)

Converge, “Bitter and Then Some” – from Jane Doe (Equal Vision, 2001)

Converge, “Jane Doe” – from Jane Doe (Equal Vision, 2001)

The album that followed Jane Doe, 2004’s You Fail Me, was considered by many upon its initial release to be something of a failure; but I suspect that history will treat this reaction as being akin to the reception Slayer received after releasing South of Heaven following Reign in Blood. Following-up such a monumental work is pretty much completely impossible.

Converge, “Black Cloud” – from You Fail Me (Epitaph, 2004)

In 2006, Converge released No Heroes, an album that many consider to be Jane Doe’s equal, or at least a close second. Like Jane Doe, it’s an aural whirlwind of visceral violence; little wonder that, in the video for the title track, the band is literally performing while what looks like the storm from hell destroys the world around them.

I don’t know if I like No Heroes as much as Jane Doe, but it does feature my favorite Converge song to date – the epic ballad “Grim Heart/Black Rose.” It might seem like a cop-out to pick such a “pretty” song as a favorite from a band that takes no small measure of pride in being ugly, but the melancholy tone of the song is no less genuine than the infuriated tone of the band’s most famous work. Besides, there’s still plenty of musical murder to go around.

Converge, “No Heroes” – from No Heroes (Epitaph, 2006)

Converge, “Plagues” – from No Heroes (Epitaph, 2006)

Converge, “Grim Heart/Black Rose” – from No Heroes (Epitaph, 2006)

Converge, “Orphaned” – from No Heroes (Epitaph, 2006)

I don’t know if we’re gonna get a new Converge album this year or not – I know that Bannon is readying a solo album and Ballou keeps himself busy producing for other bands – but I hope so. Converge’s music is challenging, full to the brim with emotion, and only multiple listens can even begin to scratch the surface. At their best, Converge build a wall of fucking noise, man, but it’s fucking beautiful noise.

-AR