Converge - Axe to Fall
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Music CD Cover
Artist: ConvergeEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2009-10-20
Music Label: Epitaph
Soundtracks:
- Dark Horse
- Reap What You Sow
- Axe To Fall
- Effigy
- Worms Will Feed
- Wishing Well
- Damages
- Losing Battle
- Dead Beat
- Cutter
- Slave Driver
- Cruel Bloom
- Wretched World
Free Music Notes for Axe to Fall
Free Music Review: The one and only Converge return with the same results
Hit: 5 Stars
With "Axe to Fall," Massachusetts metallic hardcore stalwarts Converge wrap up a truly extraordinary decade. 2001 saw "Jane Doe," then a career, nay, genre-defining highlight, a release so good you could be forgiven for expecting a letdown in the near future. Instead Converge returned 3 years later with the even better "You Fail Me" (though I know I'm in the minority in this respect) and then with "No Heroes," another punishingly good slice of mayhem which, if not quite as good as its predecessors, nevertheless laid the competition to waste. It's 2009 now and, unsurprisingly, Converge has done it again with their most recent full length. While "Axe to Fall" doesn't display an enormous leap forward in style, Converge's finely tuned songwriting abilities and nearly unparalleled intensity remain in tact, and the sound is as fresh as ever. While the imitators grow more and more generic, Converge just become more extraordinary and distinct.
The most superficially noteworthy aspect of "Axe to Fall" is the extensive use of guest musicians from bands like Cave In, Neurosis, Genghis Tron and others. Most tracks contain at least one guest, but, apart from during the closers, none make too huge of an impact on the sound. At their best, these guests help Converge extend their palette slightly, adding in a few distinct guitar lines and some more shading to the atmospheric tracks. This remains a Converge album through and through, and Bannon, Ballou, Newton and Koller display their distinct talents fully. Moreover, they continue to be impressively multi-talented, with Bannon again providing artwork and Ballou returning as producer and engineer. As with all of their recent material, "Axe to Fall" has a truly ferocious sound. The guitar and bass are not quite as explosive on "No Heroes," but Koller's drums come through even better in his most manic performance yet, and the overall production has that necessary mix of rawness and clarity.
Like Converge's other recent works, "Axe to Fall" consists primarily of short, vicious tracks mixed in with a few longer, slower oddballs. The opener "Dark Horse" is the strongest track. This is classic Converge, moving from a frenetic, odd-timed-riff-plus-drum-fills-on-every-bar combo in the verses to a brutally straightforward chorus, all culminating in a monstrous breakdown. This is hardly a new pattern, but they do it better than anyone. The next few are similarly devastating and further emphasize the intricate, squalling guitarwork, while the later short tracks are a bit less brutally metallic and better display Converge's noise and punk stylings. "Dead Beat" is probably the best of the latter examples, mixing noisy washes of guitar sound with some slightly melodic vox and a pounding chorus. I think these under three minute tracks are a bit front heavy (the first three are the best), but the overall quality is high.
Though the shorter tracks remain as fierce as ever, Converge continue to experiment with slower and moodier material. Best is the enjoyably dirge-like "Worms Will Feed/Rats Will Feast" which recalls "Plagues," while "Damages" is more mechanistic and midpaced. Most atypical are the atmospheric closers "Cruel Bloom" and "Wretched World," two atmospheric, guest-vox intensive comps. They differ a bit (Cruel Bloom is acoustic guitar and piano driven, while Wretched World has a more electronic vibe courtesy of Genghis Tron), and are both enjoyable, but ought not to have been placed next to one another. As it stands they function as a rather bizarre coda to the album, one that doesn't entirely fit. Again, I'm not opposed to the material, but how they place it. (For some reason, I'm usually not in love with how Converge orders and paces their albums. Needless to say, this is a pretty minor complaint.)
Taken all together, "Axe to Fall" is another first rate addition to Converge's catalog. As always, it's impossible to say now if it will have as much lasting power as their last few, but it surely impresses early on. Check it out.
Axe to Fall Poster
With classic metal enjoying resurgence as bands like Mastodon introduce a new generation to the majestic riffage of Sabbath and Zeppelin, it is only right that one of the bands responsible for that resurgence, Converge, should offer up their most accessible album to date.Alternative Rock Music CDs
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