Converge (band)

History

Converge was formed in the winter of 1990 by Bannon and Ballou, and they were joined in 1991 by high school friends Jeff Feinberg and Damon Bellorado. The band began by playing covers of hardcore punk, punk rock, and heavy metal songs, and started performing live in mid-1991 after recording demos on a 4-track recorder. They began writing and playing what they consider relevant music in 1994. That year, Aaron Dalbec was recruited as a second guitarist, making the band a five-piece, and Converge released their debut album Halo in a Haystack through Earthmaker Records.

The album was issued only as a vinyl record limited to 1000 copies and was never repressed, funded by Bannon with money saved from working at a nursing home. In 1995, the band released their first compilation album Caring and Killing, featuring tracks from 1991 to 1994, originally a European exclusive through Lost & Found Records. Dissatisfied with the label's handling and overpricing, Converge re-released the album through Hydra Head Records in 1997 to make an overpriced release obsolete.

Also in 1995, they released a seven-inch EP titled Unloved and Weeded Out. In 1996, Converge released the four-song EP Petitioning the Empty Sky through Ferret Music, one of that label's earliest releases. It was re-released later that year with four additional tracks, and again in 1998 through Equal Vision Records with three live tracks added. Fans and sources consider this version Converge's second studio album, though the band regards it as a compilation.

Artistry

Converge's music has been described as bleak and dissonant, rooted in both hardcore punk and heavy metal. They are considered one of the earliest and most influential metalcore bands, and their sound has also been categorized as mathcore, post-hardcore, noisecore, experimental hardcore, or simply hardcore. Matt Mills of Metal Hammer described Converge as performing a technical-yet-incensed take on their genre, while AllMusic characterized them as a revered punk metal band combining the aggression of hardcore and metal with the complexity and polyrhythms of jazz.

Their 2001 album Jane Doe introduced an experimental approach and emphasis on rhythmical complexity, defining features of mathcore. However, Bannon has stated that he does not know what mathcore is and considers trying to define their efforts with a generic subgenre name counterproductive. The band began writing and playing what they consider relevant music in 1994, at which time they incorporated influences from bands such as Starkweather, Neurosis, the Accüsed, Rorschach, Born Against, Moss Icon, Universal Order of Armageddon, Heroin, and Mohinder.

In a 2012 interview, Bannon said the band no longer looks to outside influences much, having been a band for over two decades, and that they create in their own bubble, with their music being an extension and exploration of past work. Kurt Ballou has produced or co-produced the majority of Converge's albums at his own GodCity Studio. He was involved in the entire recording and mixing process starting with their 2006 album No Heroes, which became the standard for later releases.

Ballou stated he got into studio work to have maximum control over their music, noting that when they started out no one wanted to help them.

Collaborations

Converge have collaborated with numerous musicians, including members of Cave In, The Hope Conspiracy, Genghis Tron, Neurosis, and Disfear, most of whom appear on the collaborative album Axe to Fall. Apart from that album, Converge tend not to include many guests, and those included have minor roles such as backing vocals. The band also worked with Tomas Lindberg, Aaron Turner, and Kevin Baker, all of whom provided vocals for a cover of Entombed's Wolverine Blues.

After touring together in 2004, every member of Cave In and Converge entered Ballou's GodCity Studio to begin work on a full-length collaborative album tentatively dubbed the Verge-In sessions. The project was described as sounding like a mix of Ride the Lightning-era Metallica meets Mars Volta meets the Allman Brothers. Due to both groups becoming busier and creative differences, the project fizzled out. Brodsky described the sessions as a bigger project than anticipated, with too many cooks in the kitchen, and only a small portion of material that everyone could agree on.

Tracks from the abandoned sessions were reworked years later into Converge songs: Plagues from No Heroes, and Effigy, Cruel Bloom, and Wretched World from Axe to Fall, the latter three heavily reworked by members of Genghis Tron. Bannon said he believes only two unused and half-finished tracks from these sessions remain, which could become new Cave In songs. Brodsky expressed interest in finishing the remaining unreleased tracks.