Converge: Axe To Fall
Ten Years After Jane Doe, Axe To Fall Dethrones Converge's Classic
Oct 21, 2009
After 19 years as a band, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Converge going through the motions on their seventh studio album. It is surprising then to listen to Axe To Fall and realize that it is not only a fantastic album, but it is quite possibly their best. Given that the past ten years have been so prolific for Converge, it is almost poetic that they began and ended the decade with two career defining records.
Dark Horse
Not since Jane Doe have Converge charged out of the gate this fast. The appropriately named “Dark Horse” was the first song released from the album, and it does its job well. It is brutally fast and features a lead guitar riff that will surely inspire mayhem at their shows. The next three songs, “Reap What You Sow,” “Axe To Fall,” and “Effigy” pass by in a blur of double bass and beautiful noise.
The fourth song, “Worms Will Feed,” is the first chance listeners have to catch their breath. Converge slows it down with some slow riffs and great backing vocals courtesy of bassist Nate Newton. This is all the rest listeners will have for a while, however. “Wishing Well” begins with an ominous guitar line drenched in feedback that soon brings the album back up to breakneck speed.
Axe To Fall’s Guest Musicians
The plethora of guests on this album is perhaps its biggest surprise and greatest strength. Whereas Converge have rarely employed heavy hitters previously, this time around there are guests on nearly every song. Some of the impressive contributions include vocals and guitar from The Red Chord, ex-Hatebreed, and Disfear, and backing vocals from the singers of Blacklisted, Himsa, and more.
Boston hardcore pioneers Cave In made a sizeable contribution to the album by collaboratively writing the great song “Effigy” and then playing guitars and drums on it.. Steve Von Till of Neurosis takes the lead singing on “Cruel Bloom,” a dark folksy song with female backing vocals (a first for Converge). This song shows a side Converge only hinted at with “In Her Shadow” off of 2004’s You Fail Me.
“Wretched World,” the album’s seven minute long closer, is perhaps Converge’s most haunting and emotional song, which is quite a statement considering their previous epics “Jane Doe” and “The Saddest Day.” The song was written collaboratively and performed by all three members of Genghis Tron, the drummer for Cave In, and the members of Converge.
It begins with a vaguely creepy recurring harmonic melody that repeats throughout the entire song. As time goes on, more and more layers are introduced. The clean singing (entirely by Genghis Tron singer Mookie Singerman) does not even begin until the two minute mark. Michael Sochynsky lays down Genghis Tron’s trademark keyboard melodies over the ever-building song which eventually swells and dissipates instead of going out with a bang like one might expect.
We May Get Better, We Won’t Get Well
The lyrics of “Cruel Bloom” and “Wretched World” read as thesis statements of the band’s lyrical content over the years [the helpless and wronged, emotional distances, etc.]. Everything about Axe To Fall seems to suggest summation, and just as J
ane Doe was the apex of 90s Converge, this album is the pinnacle of the band in the new millennium. With two amazing decades under their belt and no signs of slowing down, we will have much to look forward to from Converge in the coming years.
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