Review by: Tom Winter
There are any number of venerable qualities that Converge posses: longevity, resolute ownership of their collective identity, an ability to evolve whilst ever more embodying the influences that characterised their formative years. Personally I’m quite partial to their plaintive album titles and the most recent offering of All We Love We Leave Behind is another entirely successful epigram in optimism.
Opening track ‘Aimless Arrow’ has been doing the e-rounds for a while and is a typically off-kilter and restless statement of intent to introduce the record. Over the years Bannon’s vocals have noticeably become more and more flexible as he posses the capacity to move between guttural grunts, caustic wailing and truculent yelling. Much like You Fail Me opener ‘Last Light’ Bannon here opts for an urgent, bawled delivery to convey his lachrymose message “I’m that aimless arrow / lost from the very start.”
As ever with Converge’s discography the record is breathless; blistering through its fourteen tracks in less than thirty-nine minutes. Despite this everything coheres together with the distinct feeling that here exists a band unsentimental in paring any excess from their output.
The level of musicianship on show is admirable and dizzying with drummer Ben Koller continuing to provide an indefatigable and jerking backdrop to proceedings. The versatility of the percussion and band-wide sense of when to get out of a groove is part of what continues to set Converge apart as you hear time signatures flip and blast-beats interject. Despite this Converge never come across as a band wanting the listener to analyse their work rather than becoming lost in it.
Whilst retaining a predilection for ferocity the band are subtly developing their sound with polyphonic melodies and harmonious backing vocals. If you ever listen now to ‘Petitioning…’ or ‘When Forever…’ it’s clear that Converge have evolved enormously, but it’s very much been a case of increment rather than paradigmatic shift with the core of the band’s sonic palette always having been there. For a testament to the band’s versatility contrast ‘Shame in the Way’ with the atmospheric and haunting ‘Precipice’, or even the disconcertingly epic title track from the record.
Ballou’s guitar work continues to manifest in two main ways; crunching, tight powerchord progressions and blistering, often finger-tapped, riffs which puncture through the song. There’s something slightly playful about some of the guitar parts employed and they exist as a disarming way for the listener to be reminded that at heart Converge are still having a lot of fun in their work.
The aspect of Converge that’s so often impressive is the feeling of a band utterly confident in their own identity and output, but internally restless enough to challenge their work to evolve. Another premise in the increasingly convincing argument that Converge are the finest band of their ilk.