Converge - Axe To Fall

Rating:

* * * * *

Just when you thought Mastodon had scored the best metal album of the year award with

Crack the Skye

along come Boston heavies Converge with

Axe To Fall

.

Converge, who have been on the extreme music scene since 1990 and grew out of Boston's hardcore scene, are a far more harrowing, and mongrel-like proposition than the elaborate and intricate Mastodon.

Converge bring together raw rampant punk rock; metal in all its various and heavy guises; and the muscular tension of hardcore to create a unique and volatile form of cathartic music. As a result

Axe To Fall

is unhinged, hostile, and angry. But thrilling.

Opener

Dark Horse

takes off at a disturbingly fast pace with scything guitars and Jacob Bannon's incomprehensible yowl, before continuing the slaughter on

Reap What You Sow

, but then there are slower sludgier tracks like

Worms Will Feed/Rats Will Feast

, a two-parter that erupts (presumably when the rats come out to feast).

On an album packed with beastly tracks, the dour, Tom Waits-like guest vocals of Steve Von Till of Neurosis on

Cruel Bloom

is a highlight, and along with seven-minute last track,

Wretched World

, it offers a reflective and welcome respite from the fierce chaos elsewhere.

Axe To Fall

is an astonishing statement, especially for a band now nearly 20 years old.

Scott Kara