Music Head Wrote:online listen
deathpunk I guess
eight albums and I never heard of them
nor am I likely to again
1.0 from me and a converted 2.4 from the pros at allmusic

from the album - Sadness Comes Home
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncyUDtp_rJk

released Oct 9th, 2012



Bio - from allmusic

The punk metal act Converge were formed in the winter of 1990-1991, and after several singles, compilation
appearances, and the requisite growing pains, they released their first full-length effort, Halo in a Haystack, in
1994. The Boston-based quartet was initially comprised of vocalist/visual artist Jacob Bannon, guitarist Kurt
Ballou, bassist Jeff Feinburg, and drummer Damon Bellorado, with second guitarist Aaron Dalbec joining in 1994 (he
later left in 2001 without being replaced). Over the years, the band also found time to lend out members to various
side projects, including Kingdom of the Sun, Old Man Gloom, and Kid Kilowatt (the short-lived band that also
included members of Cave In).

Hydra Head issued Caring and Killing in 1996, which gathered tracks released during the band's infancy, followed a
year later by Petitioning the Empty Sky, which was released by the independent label Equal Vision. Cave In's Stephen
Brodsky replaced bassist Feinburg in 1997 as well, and by the release of 1998's When Forever Comes Crashing,
Converge had proved themselves a force to be reckoned with in the hardcore-metal scene. Brodsky left the band that
same year and was replaced by bassist Nate Newton; Bellorado likewise exited in 1999 and, soon enough, the band had
welcomed drummer Ben Koller into the fray. A split with Japan's Hellchild appeared in 2001 through Death Wish, Inc.
(which Bannon co-owned) before Converge's ever-growing reputation among fans and critics was cemented even further
with the release of the band's fourth official full-length, the highly acclaimed metal masterpiece Jane Doe.

Converge were by now regarded as one of the most original and innovative bands to emerge from the punk underground.
Trudging along, the musicians during that time played over 600 shows with varying success -- their hard work made it
possible for them to retain their cult status within the punk underground without the kind of commercial success
that has vaulted other punk bands into the middle of alternative rock radio and press. Rare and out of print tracks
were next collected together for 2003's Unloved and Weeded Out compilation before Converge returned the following
year with another studio album, You Fail Me, which marked the band's first for Epitaph. Always reliable and
consistently brutal, Bannon, Ballou, Koller, and Newton were back after more rounds of touring by October 2006 with
No Heroes, followed three years later by Axe to Fall. The latter album found Converge working collaboratively with
members of Cave In, Neurosis, and the Red Chord. In 2012 the band released its eighth studio album, All We Love We
Leave Behind.

Album Review - from allmusic

2009’s Axe to Fall saw Boston-based hardcore kings Converge enlisting a small but deadly army of co-conspirators,
doubling down on their already ferocious sound with newfound malevolence. All We Love We Leave Behind, the group’s
eighth studio album, manages to summon that same level of intensity without the aid of a single mercenary. Fans
dropping the needle for the first time may be put off by the opener "Aimless Arrow," which finds vocalist Jacob
Bannon trading in his atonal, guttural wail for a semi-melodious, albeit unhinged croon, but the one-two punch that
follows ("Trespasses" and "Tender Abuse") should assuage any fears of a seismic, stylistic sea change. The slow
burn, doom metal structuring and surprisingly melodic, almost choir-like chorus of "Coral Blue" surprise as well,
but the remaining 12 tracks are pure, unadulterated Converge, standing toe to toe with the band's best work.
"Glacial Pace," with its doom-laden, shoegaze intro and refrain of "If being alive is just to survive/a glacial pace
comes to an end" and "Sadness Comes Home," with its fleet guitar work and complex architecture, display a musicality
that sets the band apart from its many imitators. What Converge has always done masterfully is to fuse the cyclonic,
mosh-pit chaos of punk with the unrelenting precision of thrash, and blistering, cuts like "Vicious Muse," "Shame in
the Way," and "Sparrow's Fall" deliver that mission statement in bloody, two minute bursts that further cements the
group's reputation as the Webster's definition of American hardcore.

Track Listing

1. Aimless Arrow
2. Trespasses
3. Tender Abuse
4. Sadness Comes Home
5. Empty on the Inside
6. Sparrows Fall
7. Glacial Pace
8. Vicious Muse
9. Veins and Veils
10. Coral Blue
11. Shame in the Way
12. Precipice
13. All We Love We Leave Behind
14. Predatory Glow