Converge

Here they are, the titans of aggressive music. They've left a permanent crater in the world of hardcore/metal/punk music, and will be heralded as one of the greatest and most hardworking bands ever. These guys are machines when it comes to pumping out amazing music and relentless touring. They truly embody the DIY aesthetic, with their members doing their own artwork, recording their own albums, putting out most of their own albums, and booking their own tours. All of this while being one of the biggest bands in their genre, as well as constantly helping out and working with many up-and-coming bands, as well as their own side projects. Yet this band still has time to push not only their limits, but the limits of music itself and what extreme it can be taken to. And they constantly go beyond that, constantly evolving over their 20-year tenure. And not many bands can say they've done that. Pitchfork referred to them as this "generation's Black Flag". And that is so true in so many ways. They did everything themselves, put in more work than most do in a lifetime, made music that defined and pushed the entirety of punk/hardcore with their diversity, and will be remembered as THE hardcore/punk band of a certain era.

Con-fucking-verge are a four-piece hardcore/metalcore/punk band hailing from Salem, Massachusetts. They were formed in 1990 by Jacob Bannon (vocals) and Kurt Ballou (guitar) when they were still very young. Though they were active during this time, they really took off in the mid-90's, when they begin consistently releasing music and touring. They went through a few member changes throughout this time, but it wasn't until 1999 that the line-up they are best known for (Ben Koller on drums and Nate Newton on bass) was finalized. Before them, they released three albums and numerous splits/EP's that showed the band's fast progression. Some amazing (and severely underrated) work was put out during this time that I highly advise giving a chance to. This era was incredibly productive for the band, with an insanely intense live show and some amazing records under their belt.

In 2001, the band released the album. Yes, THE album. Jane Doe, the band's best-known, most-loved, and most highly regarded piece of work, not just within hardcore/metalcore, but all music. The music, lyrics, artwork, everything put the band into a whole other realm. Generally the band's career can be though of in two eras: pre-Jane Doe and post-Jane Doe. There is a massive difference between the two. Their line-up was finalized after the departure of second guitarist Aaron Dalbec. Their sound progressed even more after this masterpiece, with their follow-up You Fail Me (my personal favourite Converge album) focusing on different sounds and themes, as all their records would do after that. Each of their subsequent albums felt so unified and together, and created a monster of an experience to listen to. The artwork, the lyrics, what sounds they were working with, making Axe To Fall a particularly collaborative effort, everything just came together. They also became slightly more accessible with each album. If you are new to this band, I suggest starting with their most recent work All We Love We Leave Behind or Axe To Fall and working backwards. Jane Doe is the band's obvious "big" album, but is a lot to take in for a listener who isn't really into that style of music yet. And as far as their albums before that, they would take even longer to get into it, unless you were already interested in bands like Botch and Coalesce and Earth Crisis and such, though if you know those bands then you are already very familiar with Converge. So just a word of advice, start with the new and work your way back through the band's blistering catalogue.

The band has certainly crafted a sound of their own. The lyrics are often personal and poetic (and sometimes political), despite their vicious delivery. Bannon writes some amazing lines, and they come off perfectly through his throat-ripping shrieks, or even his straight-forward singing on occasion. They have some very technical instrumental parts, proving the band's technical capabilities in addition to their aggression. Some songs pass by at furious speeds, while others burn slowly between gritted teeth, so they are always switching things up. They occasionally experiment with electronics and acoustics, a radically different approach for a band in this genre. As far as influence goes, they certainly don't sound like any other bands. But some commonly cited ones are Slayer and Entombed as metal influences, Black Flag and Born Against as hardcore influences, and even more experimental punk acts such as The Jesus Lizard are in the mix. They also cite radically different bands like The Cure and Depeche Mode (both of whom they have covered) as contributors to their music.

Converge are one of the most important bands ever, who have already paid more than their dues, and continue to do so. They have been a major influence on pretty much every hardcore/punk band to emerge in the past decade, and really set the bar for them to reach. Not only that, through Bannon's label Deathwish as well as his art, and Kurt Ballou's GodCity Studios, they've brought many of these bands up themselves. Past and present members of Converge also have notable ties to some other incredible bands, such as Bane, Cave In, Jesuit, All Pigs Must Die, United Nations, Supermachiner, and Old Man Gloom. So without further ado, here is Converge's discography. Enjoy.

Converge (1992)

1. Look Back

2. Open Your Eyes

3. Blind

4. Gravel

Halo In A Haystack (1994)

1. Shallow Breathing

2. I Abstain

3. Two Day Romance

4. Becoming A Stranger

5. Divinity

6. Fact Leaves Its Ghost

7. Antithesis

8. Down

9. Exhale

10. Undo

Twin Terror (1995)

1. Overcast - Faceless

2. Overcast - Staredown

3. Converge - Look Back

4. Converge - Open Your Eyes

Note: Converge's side is also on their self-titled EP

Caring And Killing (1995)

1. Shallow Breathing/I Abstain

2. Two-Day Romance

3. Fact Leaves Its Ghost

4. Becoming A Stranger

5. Antithesis

6. Dead

7. Tied To My Neck

8. Divinity

9. Blind

10. Sky

11. Down

12. Zodiac

13. Yesterday

14. Savior Salvation

15. But Life Goes On 

Note: Compilation containing early songs. Songs are are from Halo In A Haystack, other compilations, demos, and some unreleased material. 

Petitioning The Empty Sky (1996)

1. The Saddest Day

2. Forsaken

3. Albatross

4. Dead

5. Shingles

6. Buried But Breathing

7. Farewell Note To This City

8. Color Me Blood Red

9. For You (Live)

10. Antithesis (Live)

11. Homesong (Live)

12. Love As Arson (Alternate Version) 

Note: This is the 2005 Equal Vision remastered version. The original 1996 one contained the first four songs on the 7" and the first eight on the CD version

Among The Dead We Pray For Light (1997)

1. Converge - Love As Arson 

2. Coalesce - Have Patience

In These Black Days: Vol. 2 (1997)

1. Brutal Truth - Cornucopia (Black Sabbath cover)

2. Converge - Snowblind (Black Sabbath cover)

Downpour/Serial Killer (1997)

1. Downpour

2. Serial Killer

When Forever Comes Crashing (1998)

1. My Unsaid Everything

2. The High Cost Of Playing God

3. In Harms Way

4. Conduit

5. The Lowest Common Denominator

6. Towing Jehova

7. When Forever Comes Crashing

8. Ten Cents

9. Year Of The Swine

10. Letterbomb

11. Love As Arson

12. Bitter And Then Some (Unreleased Demo Version)

Note: This is the 2005 reissue version with the bonus track Bitter And Then Some

The Poacher Diaries (1999)

1. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Mantis

2. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Center of the Hive

3. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Glass Tornado

4. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Landfills of Extinct Possibility

5. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Pentagram Constellation

6. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Bed of Flies

7. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Destroyed

8. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Gringo

9. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - Infected Womb

10. Converge - Locust Reign

11. Converge - This Is Mine

12. Converge - They Stretch For Miles

13. Converge - My Great Devastator

14. Converge - The Human Shield

15. Converge - Minnesota

Y2K (1999)

1. Serial Killer

2. Snowblind (Live)

3. Disintegration (The Cure cover)

Deeper The Wound (2001)

1. Converge - Thaw

2. Converge - Clean (Depeche Mode cover)

3. Converge - Conduit (Live)

4. Converge - Shallow Breathing (Live)

5. Converge - Locust Reign (Live)

6. Hellchild - 1

7. Hellchild - Insurrection Of The Living Damned (Bulldozer cover)

8. Hellchild - In This Freezing Night (Live)

9. Hellchild - Without Any Answers (Live)

Jane Doe (2001)

1. Concubine

2. Fault And Fracture

3. Distance And Meaning

4. Hell To Pay

5. Homewrecker

6. The Broken Vow

7. Bitter And Then Some

8. Heaven In Her Arms

9. Phoenix In Flight

10. Phoenix In Flames

11. Thaw

12. Jane Doe

Black On Black: A Tribute To Black Flag (2002)

11. Annihilate This Week (Black Flag cover)

Note: Black Flag covers compilation album

Tomorrow Seems So Hopeless: A Tribute To Negative Approach (2003)

15. Whatever I Do (Negative Approach cover)

Note: Negative Approach covers compilation album

Unloved And Weeded Out (2003)

1. Downpour

2. Flowers and Razorwire

3. Tremor

4. Home Song

5. For You

6. Jacob's Ladder

7. Undo

8. Towing Jehovah (Demo)

9. The High Cost Of Playing God (Demo)

10. When Forever Comes Crashing (Demo)

11. The Year Of The Swine (Demo)

12. Letterbomb (Demo)

13. Locust Reign (live in California)

14. This Is Mine (live in California) 

Note: Compilation album. Track 1 is from Downpour/Serial Killer, track 2 from a compilation, track 3 was previously unreleased, tracks 4-6 are from the original 1996 version of Unloved And Weeded Out, track 7 is from Halo In A Haystack, tracks 8-12 are demos of songs that would later appear on When Forever Comes Crashing, and tracks 13-14 are live versions of songs that would later appear on The Poacher Diaries

You Fail Me (2004)

1. First Light

2. Last Light

3. Black Cloud

4. Drop Out

5. Hope Street

6. Heartless

7. You Fail Me

8. In Her Shadow

9. Eagles Become Vultures

10. Death King

11. In Her Blood

12. Hanging Moon

Live In Minneapolis, MN 09.21.05 (2005)

1. First Light

2. Eagles Become Vultures

3. The Broken Vow

4. Drop Out

5. Hope Street

6. Bitter And Then Some

7. You Fail Me

8. Black Cloud

9. Heartless

10. Homewrecker

11. Last Light

12. Concubine

13. Conduit

14. The Saddest Day

No Heroes (2006)

1. Heartache

2. Hellbound

3. Sacrifice

4. Vengeance

5. Weight Of The World

6. No Heroes

7. Plagues

8. Grim Heart/Black Rose

9. Orphaned

10. Lonewolves

11. Versus

12. Trophy Scars

13. Bare My Teeth

14. To The Lions

Axe To Fall (2009)

1. Dark Horse

2. Reap What You Sow

3. Axe To Fall

4. Effigy

5. Worms Will Feed/Rats Will Feast

6. Wishing Well

7. Damages

8. Losing Battle

9. Dead Beat

10. Cutter

11. Slave Driver

12. Cruel Bloom

13. Wretched World

On My Shield (2010)

1. On My Shield

Converge/Dropdead (2011)

1. Converge - Runaway

2. Dropdead - Paths Of Glory

Converge/Napalm Death (2012)

1. Converge - No Light Escapes

2. Converge - Wolverine Blues (Entombed cover)

3. Napalm Death - Will By Mouth

4. Napalm Death - No Impediment to Triumph (Bhopal)

All We Love We Leave Behind (2012)

1. Aimless Arrow

2. Trespasses

3. Tender Abuse

4. Sadness Comes Home

5. Empty On The Inside

6. Sparrow's 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

Pound For Pound: The Wolverine Blues Sessions (2013)

1. Wolverine Blues w/ Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom, etc)

2. Wolverine Blues w/ Jacob Bannon (Converge, Wear Your Wounds)

3. Wolverine Blues w/ Kevin Baker (APMD, The Hope Conspiracy, etc)

4. Wolverine Blues w/ Nate Newton (Converge, Doomriders, Old Man Gloom, etc)

5. Wolverine Blues w/ Tompa (Disfear, At The Gates, etc) and Kurt (Converge, etc)

Live At The BBC (2014)

1. Dark Horse (BBC Live Version)

2. Axe to Fall (BBC Live Version)

3. Damages (BBC Live Version)

4. Hanging Moon (BBC Live Version)

You Fail Me Redux (2016)

1. First Light

2. Last Light

3. Black Cloud

4. Drop Out

5. Hope Street

6. Heartless

7. You Fail Me

8. In Her Shadow

9. Eagles Become Vultures

10. Wolves At My Door

11. Death King

12. In Her Blood

13. Hanging Moon

Jane Live (2017)

1. Concubine (Live)

2. Fault And Fracture (Live)

3. Distance And Meaning (Live)

4. Hell To Pay (Live)

5. Homewrecker (Live)

6. The Broken Vow (Live)

7. Bitter And Then Some (Live)

8. Heaven In Her Arms (Live)

9. Phoenix In Flight (Live)

10. Phoenix In Flames (Live)

11. Thaw (Live)

12. Jane Doe (Live)

I Can Tell You About Pain (2017)

1. I Can Tell You About Pain

2. Eve

The Dusk In Us (2017)

1. A Single Tear

2. Eye of the Quarrel

3. Under Duress

4. Arkhipov Calm

5. I Can Tell You About Pain

6. The Dusk In Us

7. Wildlife

8. Murk & Marrow

9. Trigger

10. Broken By Light

11. Cannibals

12. Thousands of Miles Between Us

13. Reptilian

Beautiful Ruin (2018)

1. Permanent Blue

2. Churches and Jails

3. Melancholia

4. Beautiful Ruin

Bloodmoon: I (2021)

1. Blood Moon

2. Viscera

3. Coil

4. Flower Moon

5. Tongues Playing Dead

6. Lord Of Liars

7. Failure Forever

8. Scorpion's Sting

9. Daimon

10. Crimson Stone

11. Blood Dawn

Note: Collaborative album with Chelsea Wolfe

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