Caught in the Crossfire

It seems pointless to even try to musically pigeonhole Converge, because ultimately you need to hear (or better still, go see) the Boston quartet in action to truly discover what they’re about.

No Heroes’ is a chaotic, extreme, malevolent and – above all – brutally uncompromising beast of a sixth album, which sees Jacob Bannon and co. pushing their twisted metal/hardcore hybrid ever further into new territory. If all you neatly-groomed ‘fashioncore’ types aren’t quaking in your Converse All-Stars yet, then now would be a good time to start.

The band waste no time in pummelling your senses into submission with the opening salvo of ‘Heartache’ and ‘Hellbound’ – with guitars and vocals sounding raw anf frenzied enough to shred your speakers, given half the chance. But there’s plenty of depth beneath the sonic warfare, as perhaps best evidenced by ‘Grim Heart/Black Rose’; an almost ten-minute long epic laden with dark melancholy and even some (gasp!) actual singing. It’s unlike anything this band have recorded before, and provides an excellent contrast to the aural armageddon that surrounds it.

You can hear the album’s title track on the link above, and also check this recent interview with Jacob to find out what the future holds for Converge.

How could the combination of Seattle grunge legends The Melvins and Hydra Head recording artists Big Business be anything less than absolutely fucking incredible?

When word got out that The Melvins had teamed up with Big Business (who, in case you don’t know, delivered one of last years most powerful albums ‘Head For The Shallow’ and are equally jaw-dropping live) no one was quite sure how the end results would turn out. Chances are it was going to be a typically Melvins slab of impenetrable noise, but instead, the newly born Big-Business-Melvins have turned in the most commercial album of their long careers.

‘A Senile Animal’ is undoubtedly the band’s most straight-up rock album , but done of course in the trademark Melvins lurching doom-drenched style. Rhythmically, it’s incredible – the combination of Dale Crover and Coady Willis on drums is utterly earth shattering. Combine that with a double lashing of fuzzed-out bass and this is the sound of planets exploding. Yet all the way throughout, the vocal and guitar hooks are utterly addictive and some of these songs wouldn’t sound out of place on a Soundgarden album.

Quite how, over twenty years into their careers, The Melvins have delivered what could be their best album so far beggars belief. But then again, this is The Melvins we’re talking about here. Worship them.