FEAR, EMPTINESS, DECIBEL: CONVERGE GRACE THE COVER OF THE OCTOBER ISSUE
Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…
Mastodon, Opeth and Baroness are all multiple Decibel cover stars whose work has changed significantly over time. Iron Maiden have likewise graced the cover plenty, and, along with this month’s four-time honoree Converge—well, it would be reductive to say they’re models of consistency, but you generally aren’t going to yell “What the fuck?!” from anything other than the awesomeness smashing your face in.
You can imagine all four of the Converge guys exploring left-field pursuits on their own (Ben Koller moonlighting in the ever-unpredictable Cave In, Nate Newton in Doomriders, the cornucopia of insanity Kurt Ballou produces, Jake Bannon’s long-gestating lo-fi solo project), but together their approach is so singular, so unmistakably them. Yet the machine still produces new and exciting looks from record to record.
Their latest is All We Love We Leave Behind, and it’s in a lot of ways a response to Axe to Fall in that it’s just Converge in assault mode, no guest stars except for the bonus tracks. That can’t be easy for guys who have had to spend so much time together for so long. The coolest takeaway from Chris Dick’s cover story is that Ballou, at least, doesn’t see this as a career, and doesn’t want to reflect on the year-to-year twists and turns that mirror their music. They’re still trying to simply rule—and succeeding. Love it, don’t leave it, right here.
-AB
The October issue of Decibel also features The Faceless, Sick of it All, an a killer Tombs flexi disc, and can be ordered here. But why not just get a full subscription to ensure that you never miss an issue?
