Album Reviews

- by Christophe Vanheygen

Good god. Has it ever occurred to you that in a mere three years, Converge will celebrate its 30^th anniversary?

Shocking! Especially when you hear how hungry, bold, aggressive and explosive the band sounds on album number 9.

Of course, ‘The Dusk in Us’ is exactly what you’d expect Converge to bring to the table: bursts of raw punk metal driven by polyrhythmic chaos. To paraphrase Dog Eat Dog: you expet the unexpected.

And yes, there is many a mosh-able tune to be found on this one. Yet, over the years, musicianship and craftsmanship have largely overtaken the sheer insanity and poetic aggression.

Lemme explain: when things go fast, every note and every hit on the drums is delivered with great precision. Check the riffs on ‘Arkhipov Calm’, for example. That’s musicianship for ya.

The craftsmanship, the ability to write songs far from their comfort zone and get away with it, was already somewhat on display on albums like ‘You Fail Me’. The title track of this one is a slow and steady punk metal ballad that spells dooms from the first soft notes up until the last guttural and indecipherable screams Bannon can push out of his throat.

All it comes down to is this: as innovative has Converge has been over the past two-plus decades, they really show no signs of complacency. Converge has and always will be a band that sounds like no other.

Track listing:

1. A Single Tear
2. Eye of the Quarrel
3. Under Duress
4. Arkhipov Calm
5. I Can Tell You About Pain
6. The Dusk in Us
7. Wildlife
8. Murk & Marrow
9. Trigger
10. Broken by Light
11. Cannibals
12. Thousands of Miles Between Us
13. Reptilian