I’ll come clean. I love Converge. Ever since discovering them when The Poacher Diaries came out, I became a manic obsessive, drooling over Petitioning the Empty Sky, and When Forever Comes Crashing, frequently and almost to a point, lovingly. Now, since Jane Doe, came out, my interest hasn’t waned in the band. Far from it, but if you gave me the choice between When Forever.., and You Fail Me, for instance then I’ll plumb for the former almost every time, just because it fits my vision of musical perfection more acutely then it’s ugly sibling, which in fact, satisfies a different part of my palette.

Anyway, enough fan boy babbling, let’s get onto Axe to Fall. Converge are still exploring the darkened, skewered path that they set upon from Jane Doe and if anything, they are getting bitterer and more twisted and even more harrowing then on their former efforts. As with the records since Jane Doe, and mirroring closely “No Heroes,” the opening compositions come thick and most importantly, fast, hacking and slashing with deadly speed and precision, but this time, they take a sizable chunk out of your ear before they have concluded.

“Dark Horse,” amalgamates so many elements, it’s equally crusty, yet simultaneously it melds beautifully gleaming metallic crunches, Jake’s wounded howl and his vicious scream. “Reap What You Sow,” continues the chaos, but focuses more on dancing stuttering riffs, similar to those found on “Thaw,” on Jane Doe. They dance and poke with resolute fury before giving way to a ripping solo and barrage of double bass. The title track keeps the blood pressure pumping, with riffs skipping up and down the scales, and coalescing into crushing segues that pound and pound and pound, seriously Mr Koller, what are you on? It concludes with a scything, and of course crushing, blackened, crusted riff, ducking and diving with faultless poise and precision.

This bloodbath concludes with another grinder in the form of “Effigy,” which seems redeemed co-conspirators Steve Brodsky and Adam McGrath bringing the noise again like it was 1998. Up next is one of the album highlights, “Worms will feed,” a gargling, damaged and utterly addictive sludge monster that crawls insidiously, mingling in glassy, prickly riffs amongst the demented sludge.

Of all the collaborators on Axe to Fall, the one that perked my interest the most was the one with Mr Von Till from those Oakland Monoliths Neurosis (just in case you didn’t know). The piece “Cruel Bloom,” is decidedly delicious, reminding that Converge aren’t afraid to tread the damaged folk path as they did with “In Her Shadow,” from You Fail Me. Von Till is equally soothing as he is raging, cracking out his fierce bellow smoothly from his coy croon, musically, it’s equally impressive, with the doomy riffs lurking with insipid menace colliding sumptuously with dreamy, ethereal strumming, it’s a massive, brave and above all, beautiful track.

I could go on about the numerous highlights through the album beyond those listed here, but that would be spoil the surprises and other shocks contained within, just get this and revel in its evil, evil genius.

[Visit the band's website]

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