Scientists need to study Converge. How do you continue making extreme, abrasive guitar music for decades on end, without getting bored or boring or repeating yourselves? It shouldn’t be possible, but they’re doing it. One month from today, Converge will release their new LP Love Is Not Enough, and we’ve already heard the title track, which sounds a bit like how it must feel to stick your face into lawnmower blades. Today, they hit us with an anthemic new one called “We Were Never The Same.”
Can I just say: “We Were Never The Same” is an incredibly cold song title. It could be a Clipse lyric. I don’t think that’s how Converge mean it. Jacob Bannon’s lyrics are about the dark consequences of operating without empathy. In a press release, Bannnon says, “I wrote these words in the parking lot of a funeral home while reflecting on loss. Why do we gather to mourn but not to cherish? It’s an honest question that exposes our collective distractions and shortcomings. Grief brings clarity— We all must do better.” He’s right! Of course he’s right! But the song doesn’t sound vulnerable. It sounds like planets smashing into each other.
“We Were Never The Same” isn’t Converge in the jagged math-metalcore zone. Instead, it’s an absolutely straightforward ripper, a guttural riff-monster. Is there some organ in there? Or is that just an exquisitely constructed guitar tone? This is the last song on Love Is Not Enough, and it’s a beautiful addition to Converge’s canon of closing tracks. Check it out below.
Love Is Not Enough is out 2/13 on Deathwish/Epitaph.
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