Converge - Axe To Fall Digipak CD

CONVERGE (MA, USA) - Axe To Fall (Digipak CD) (2009).  From frenetic, frantic opening track “Dark Horse,” which is a downhill avalanche of ferocity culminating in one of the heaviest riffs Converge have ever laid listeners to waste with, to “Worms Will Feed,” an ominous exploration that ebbs and flows, building upon crashing then retreating waves of music and lyrical condemnation, to the barely restrained chaos of “Losing Battle” and Axe To Fall’s sanguine, beautiful, climatic seven-minute-plus dénouement, “Wretched Word,” Axe To Fall isn’t just another mere “release” or record from spoiled kids discovering Metal and crying about how difficult life is in the suburbs. Axe To Fall is a nearly two-decade culmination of hard roads travelled and unwanted, but necessary, lessons learned, of prayers for salvation lost to the wind and too-fleeting nights where everything was still, if only for a moment, consumed by morning’s inevitable advance, of crushing defeats and the realization that the war only ends when we do, and it’s not one we can win, merely endure.

Something Jake Bannon said years ago has stuck with me ever since: that Hardcore needs to be about something more than bad poetry and Slayer riffs. And that search for and desire to be something more have defined Converge since their inception and continue to propel them and their art ever-forward. Through sheer hard work, perseverance and an unwavering commitment to artistic integrity, Converge have risen from humble beginnings to become that mercurial and so very rare “something more.” Axe To Fall continues their reign, long may it last.  **originally published on deathwishinc.com by Christopher Gramlich**  Epitaph ‎Records – 87035-2