Few bands can put claim to the level of innovation and originality of Massachusetts hardcore titans Converge.
Since 2001’s Jane Doe, they have delivered album after album of high acclaim, proving their importance in the metal and hardcore realms. 2012 release All We Love We Leave Behind is one of the group’s strongest yet, evidenced by a strong turnout of fans at Melbourne’s Billboard Nightclub.
Opening honours were given to The Broderick and they delivered the brutality early. The Melbourne hardcore group performed to a high level of maturity and effectively communicated tracks from their ripping debut effort Free to Rot, Free of Sin.
The band played with conviction and were exciting to watch, but were let down by a poor mix and some of the more interesting elements of their music were often hidden within a muddy wall of sound.
Following an impressively fast changeover, Converge fans were treated to a rare live performance from recently re-ignited sludge metal supergroup Old Man Gloom.
The four-piece includes Converge’s very own Nate Newton taking up six-string duties alongside members of Isis, Cave In, and Zozobra.
The band commanded attention early with haunting doom masterpiece ‘Gift’ and kept their hold as they clashed notes in screeching dissonance and took the crowd on a journey through experimental sonic bliss throughout their extended set.
Converge take to the stage prior to their set to perform their own sound check whilst heavily tattooed vocalist Jacob Bannon psyches up the eagerly awaiting crowd. When the band strike the first chords of No Heroes opener ‘Heartache’, the moshpit erupts right on cue.
However, the sound is noticeably off, with the guitar faint and overpowered. Thankfully the mix improves a few songs into the set, but Jane Doe favourite ‘Concubine’ and Axe To Fall blisterer ‘Dark Horse’ both suffer greatly as a result.
Bannon shares poetic vocal passages with the crowd as the band progress to new album territory with intricate lead single ‘Aimless Arrow.’ Following up with ‘Trespasses’, Converge deliver an unparalleled ferocity with rolling rhythmic complexity and tearing dissonance that helps create the most vicious mosh pit antics of the night.
A more experimental side of the new album is portrayed with its title track, which features a distorted bass progression preceding polyrhythmic drumming, ethereal tapped guitar work, and eventually Bannon’s ripping vocals added to the mix in a progressive masterpiece that is a joy to experience.
The band entice more moshpit violence as they tear through ‘Bitter and Then Some’ before slowing things down with ‘A Glacial Pace’. A wildcard is thrown with ‘Locust Reign’, a song off their 1999 split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed; chainsaw riffs accompany flailing limbs in ninety seconds of sonic slaughter and long-time Converge fans are beyond pleased.
The crowd catch their breath as heads softly bang to the chilling lead of ‘Sadness Comes Home’, the calm before the visceral kick in the teeth that follows in one of the night’s major highlights.
They then lay down a trio of chaotic tracks from 2009’s Axe to Fall, beginning with a slow and thrashy ‘Worms Will Feed/Rats Will Feast’ which at six minutes in length is almost tiring in its company of short and sharp hardcore gems such as the following tracks ‘Axe To Fall’ and ‘Cutter’.
Converge bring out the classics with ‘Eagles Become Vultures’ and ‘The Broken Vow’, both of which have become setlist mainstays. The latter track is particularly impressive live with haunting chants and call and response vocals that the audience are more than happy to help out with.
Converge say their thank yous and goodbyes before removing themselves from the stage but aren’t fooling anyone.
They return for their planned encore amid intermittent shouts of song suggestions and announce they do indeed have another song up their sleeves. Their choice is the ‘First Light’ / ‘Last Light’ opening combo of 2004’s You Fail Me and the delivery is perfect.
Bannon screams out the uplifting lyrics and every word echoes throughout the encaptured listeners, then shredded disharmony in the final breakdown brings the epic performance to a close.
Despite some issues with the sound throughout the show, the live spectacle that Converge provide is one that every fan of heavy music should witness at least once. Inspiring, innovative and utterly chaotic, Converge deserve every bit of praise that they receive.
