CONVERGE – AXE TO FALL

So…Axe To Fall comes out October 20th on Epitaph Records (Deathwish has the all important vinyl though). The record is an interesting follow up to (my own personal holy trinity of Jane Doe, You Fail Me and) No Heroes, as Axe To Fall sees guitarist Kurt Ballou really flex his guitar muscles. There hasn’t been this much flashy guitar work on a Converge record ever before, the only record that even comes close is 1998’s Petitioning The Empty Sky. I think this will benefit Converge, especially on their upcoming tour with more traditional metal bands Mastodon and Dethklok. Axe To Fall has massive crossover potential for Mastodon fans, due mainly to Kurt’s especially prog’d out guitar work. Upon first listen I felt the single, “Dark Horse” was an odd choice to introduce fans to the new record, but after hearing the entire record a few times I think it works perfectly. Vocalist/artist Jacob Bannon even takes strides to make this record a little more accessible as he further expands (and uses much more frequently) his “clean”-er vocal delivery. Axe To Fall is not all hyper d-beat prog though: the record gets sludgy and at times really bluesy, and once again Converge play with an acoustic track. Really looking forward to grabbing the vinyl in October, full review to come then!
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