### Converge: Petitioning the empty sky

#### 28/12/09 || Daemonomania

Despite being some wacky fuckers and adding a whole lotta hardcore to their minestrone, metalheads seem to like Converge. Add me to that list. While I haven’t sat down and listened to anything post “Jane Doe”, I have little doubt that their recent shit is good. Just one of those bands from whom you can generally expect quality output. Unlike that writer Daemonosomething. From him, expect only sexcellence.

That being said, “Petitioning…” is early Converge and is a bit harder for these ears of steel and leather to take in. Problem 1 being an abundance of clean vocals. Bad, bad clean vocals. Think Jeff Buckley and Masato Henmarer Morimoto (in crushed dog mode) drunk as dirtydump harmonizing in a back alley. Whiny, irritating. Not even remotely on-key. “A farewell note to this city” suggests the city in question would be happy to see your yelpy ass get the fuck out. 97+3 Shit Points for you sir.

Problem 2: Riffs written by the kids united. Yes, songs like “Dead” and “Buried but breathing” feature few if any of the Slayerisms that make old Converge so awesome. That’s right. I don’t even like Slayer. But I can tell when someone is adopting a Slayer-style riff, and can enjoy it immensely if put into the right context. So emo-y punk-y handchore non-Slayer riffs plus weak clean vocals equals Hot Shit Hits Maximum.

Now for da good stuff. When the Slayerisms, hardcore elements, spastic math assaults and Jacob Bannon’s paint-peeling vocal alter-ego kick in – PUNISHMENT. Witness opening number “The saddest day”. If the Grave track “Burn” went back to 1996 Massachusetts, wore a tight shirt, and had a clean singing break… ahh fuck, that analogy stopped making sense about halfway through. Nonetheless “Saddest day” is a seven minute masterpiece of the style that would come to be known as metalcore.

“Shingles” and “Color me blood red” are two more fine furballs coughed up via Converge’s groundbreaking methods. Also in the good column: the live tunes tacked on to the end of “Petitioning…”, recorded at a student radio station. In the midst of the band’s impressively spot-on performances Bannon cracks his head on the mic and talks about bleeding all over the place. Street cred points arise. Applesauce, bitch. Control Of Own Hole. I’m done spewing catchphrases.

Summary time. This just ain’t as good as “Jane Doe”. But if you’re willing to skip three or four abysmal posicore pieces there’s plenty of meat to be found on this bird. EAT IT.

- Information
- Released: 1996
- Label: Equal Vision
- Website: www.convergecult.com
- Band
- Jacob Bannon: vocals
- Kurt Ballou: guitars
- Nate Newton: bass
- Ben Koller: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. The Saddest Day
- 02. Forsaken
- 03. Albatross
- 04. Dead
- 05. Shingles
- 06. Buried but Breathing
- 07. Farewell Note to this City
- 08. Color Me Blood Red
- 09. For You
- 10. Antithesis/Homesong