Converge’s Return Is Exactly What Heavy Music Needs Right Now

Converge band members left to right: Nate Newton (bassist), Ben Koller (drummer), Jacob Bannon (vocalist), Kurt Ballou (guitarist).

Jason Zucco

There’s something missing in modern heavy music. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what’s missing, partly because it’s not just one thing rather it’s a multitude of aspects. For one, the commercialization of heavy music has been a double edged sword – while it’s nice to see heavy bands marching to the forefront of pop-culture, much of the aggressive music coming out today has adopted this commercialized template which often produces sterile and formulaic music.

Converge on the other hand, the revered New England outfit who helped pioneer the metalcore genre, could not be further from these tropes. Since the late 90s Converge has produced a wide array of authentic and raw sounding LPs. The authenticity and human imperfection that comes with Converge’s sound has granted them a cult like following that’s hard to come by in today’s scene. Now with the band releasing the title track for their 11th LP Love Is Not Enough, Converge’s return could not be more timely.

Converge’s New Single “Love Is Not Enough”

Converge’s hypnotic grooves, frantic guitar riffs and poetically angry vocals are all present on their returning single. It satisfying to see that the band hasn’t strayed from their signature aspects but rather has doubled down on them. While their last LP, 2021’s Bloodmoon: I, was a more of an experimantal album in addition to being a collaboration with songwriter Chelsea Wolfe, it’s nice to have the band back and pulling no punches.

In fact, this pull-no-punches approach might be characteristic of this eleventh LP: “It does a thing that no other Converge record does—it keeps ramping up,” vocalist Jacob Bannon states. “And that’s definitely by design. Internally, we passed around dozens of ideas for sequencing because everyone interprets music differently and there’s no right way of doing it. When we do that, we always joke that we all have to be equally unhappy. But this is the one that works.”

Speaking more on the authenticity that’s missing from modern heavy music, Bannon shares a similar sentiment as it relates to the band’s sound on this record. “I think that realism is missing from a lot of modern music of any genre, but especially our genre,” Bannon says. “Things either go super raw and almost chaotic to the point where it’s distracting, or bands take the life out of what they’re doing by editing every aspect. Sometimes the perfect take is the one that has some wildness to it. It’s not perfectly executed. There’s a lot of powerful moments on this record and a lot of angry moments. The realism amplifies that.”

Fans will get to hear these powerful angry moments when Love Is Note Enough drops February 16th via Epitaph. Below is the tracklisting for Love Is Note Enough: