Converge: You Fail Me Album Review
Boston hardcore legends head in a new direction after "Jane Doe"
Mar 2, 2009
Many bands, in the wake of releasing an album regarded by many as their masterpiece, seem to decide to try something different instead of trying to top said album. Much like Radiohead followed up OK Computer with Kid A, Converge followed Jane Doe with You Fail Me. Jane Doe was a tight and brutal 45 minutes of aggression. You Fail Me is less concise and less urgent, but just as vicious as anything before it.
You Fail Me’s Songs
The album opens with the short instrumental “First Light.” Its dark reverb gives way to what is probably Converge’s most anthemic song they have ever written. “Last Light” features a simple but ominous guitar and has a breakdown that sounds like a car crash with its heavy stop-start guitar and squealing feedback. It’s an incredible one-two punch to start out the album, and it produces a momentum that continues for the first half of the album.
You Fail Me is incredibly front-loaded with great songs. “Black Cloud” is furious and bassist Nate Newton’s background yells of “black cloud gaining!” add tremendous ferocity to the song. “Drop Out” provides a complicated rhythm that ends with some incredibly cool guitar tapping. “Hope Street” is a minute long grindcore number that sounds like a wall of noise but has a very subtly and catchy melody, also augmented by Newton’s screams.
The excellent first half is rounded out with the almost dance-able “Heartless” and the slow crawl of “You Fail Me,” which plods along for five and a half minutes building on its repetitive melody. It works well for Converge, unlike the following song “In Her Shadow.” Their first acoustic song has a hazy melody with vocals to match, but it simply goes on for too long. At six minutes, it becomes very boring with little variation.
The rest of the album is a bit more straightforward. “Eagles Become Vultures” is a breakneck speed hardcore song, but that’s all. “Death King” and “In Her Blood” are boring, save for the latter’s late-song keyboards which add an interesting atmosphere, but it feels like too little too late. “Hanging Moon” provides a nice end for the album with its bongo drum breakdown and slow-fast dynamics. Bannon even abandons his shriek for a more hardcore yell.
The New(ish) Converge
A notable feature of You Fail Me is that, while the guitar and vocals were very upfront on previous albums, they are now scaled back a bit. The bass and drums have been beefed up and it makes the album sound a lot heavier than Jane Doe. Even Bannon’s vocal styling changed to suit the new album. His screams sound more meaty and raspy, as opposed to his high pitched shrieking on their prior efforts.
The album is a lot less straightforward as well. It tries lots of new things on for size, such as the acoustic “In Her Shadow,” the doom-metal dirge “You Fail Me,” and the off-kilter melodies featured in songs like “Black Cloud” and “Drop Out.” The band also slows down a bit without sacrificing its intensity, which is a hard thing for many hardcore bands to do.
Converge has always been at the forefront of aggressive music. This album only strengthens the throne they made with Jane Doe. Switching labels from Equal Vision to Epitaph has done nothing to diminish their sound. It is great to have them trying new things. You Fail Me is a perfect example of why Converge is the hardest working band in hardcore.
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