Converge
Axe To Fall LP (blue vinyl)

The Converge LP Axe To Fall, released on Deathwish, continues the band’s metallic hardcore with a significantly expanded sonic vocabulary. Released in 2009, the studio album combines frantic hardcore passages, thrash influences, and noisy guitar work with slower, oppressive sections. The recording was produced by guitarist Kurt Ballou, whose work shapes the sharply defined, dense, and dynamically layered soundscapes.

“Dark Horse” opens the album at high speed, with aggressive drum patterns and a riff that builds from frantic movement into massive heaviness. “Reap What You Sow” and the title track continue this tension between precise forward momentum and eruptive breaks. Converge work with shifting tempos, dissonant guitar lines, and Jacob Bannon’s hoarse, visceral vocals.

One distinctive feature of Axe To Fall is the number of guest musicians involved. Members of Cave In, Neurosis, Genghis Tron, Disfear, and other bands join the core quartet without diluting the recordings’ distinctive character. Toward the end, the arrangements open up further: piano, glockenspiel, and extended tension-building arcs give tracks such as “Cruel Bloom” and “Wretched World” a dark, almost elegiac dimension. In this way, the LP showcases Converge’s combination of brutal directness, complex rhythms, and unusual tonal colors.

NEW /  Released in 2009 / Reissued in 2023

Tracklist:

A1 Dark Horse

A2 Reap What You Sow

A3 Axe To Fall

A4 Effigy

A5 Worms Will Feed / Rats Will Feast

A6 Wishing Well

A7 Damages

B1 Losing Battle

B2 Dead Beat

B3 Cutter

B4 Slave Driver

B5 Cruel Bloom

B6 Wretched World