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Converge, "You Fail Me"
Epitaph
Listening to these four musicians play together is much like watching asixth grader beat the shit out of some kid just for the hell of it. Themusic is so heavy and unhinged that it makes all those fast-loud bandslook like a bunch of sissies masturbating to episodes of the Red Shoe Diaries. Sure, it's one thing to be fast and loud, but to be heavy like Converge is on You Fail Meis entirely different. Their guitars are thick as tar, their rhythmsmaniacal to the point of dizzying, and their arrangementsunpredictable. The lyrical content, on one hand, has a romantic edge toit: obviously the demons of Jane Doe never fully went away andthe title of the album is suggestive of a topic too many metal-headsare too cool to bring up. Relationships between people, emotionaldisappointment, needs, love, lust, and sex all make an appearance onthe record and Jacob Bannon has some stunning moments lyrically thatconvey all the disgust and confusion that arises out of all thosetopics. "First Light" and "Last Light" open up You Fail Me on alevel that might turn most away. The opening guitar riffs on "FirstLight" are gorgeous and heart-wrenchingly emotive — but it's the waythat "Last Light" plays on this beginning that really enhances theireffect. The percussive chaos and nearly blurred wall of sound thatfollows is only matched in intensity by Bannon's words: "I need you tobe the strength of widows and soul survivors" stretches through thespeakers as the record begins with a cry to "Keep breathing / Keepliving / Keep searching / Keep pushing on," holding the song up throughits rumbling and screaming middle. As "Last Light" ends, Bannon yells"This is for the hearts still beating" and the purity of the noise andvehement desire echoed in the song makes the dedication believable.Tracks like "Drop Out" make it obvious that this isn't just some bandmarking out the destructive path of emotions with loud and heavy metal.The time signature shifts, frequent changes in intensity, and theabsolute control that the band exhibits over their instruments makes itobvious that Converge is a band thinking about what they are doing ateach and every moment. They still manage to sound completely out ofcontrol, though, and when "In Her Shadow" begins, it comes as the onlymoment of relief the whole record provides. Driven by a strangelyfuzzed out acoustic guitar and a hatred for taking the easy way out,it's an oddly beautiful song in the eye of a hurricane full ofbludgeoning energy. When "Eagles Become Vultures" kicks back in rightafter this, the music sounds a billion times more intense than it didbefore and You Fail Me begins to spiral out of control. Thelast four songs on the album are almost deadly in their delivery and asit convulses into silence it becomes quite clear that this is perhapsthe most honest vitriol I've heard recently.
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