Converge – All We Love We Leave Behind (2012)

Sick as f*ck, fast and loud, Converge, one of the most creative and explosive metal bands emerged from the underground in the last decade it’s back with their eighth and deadliest album. Playing an extremely innovative blend of hardcore punk and modern, death and groove fueled extreme metal, Converge not only opened the path for a new generation of furious metallers, but also inspired and influenced a brand new generation of bands and consistently contributed to define many of the elements of the metalcore genre.
Their previous album, the 2009’s “Axe to Fall” peaked at number 74 in the Billboard 200 and the expectations were pretty high regarding their new release.
“All We Love We Leave Behind” it’s a new milestone in the history of the metal. This is metal f*ckers! True, raw, unpolished, stainless metal. Not that kind of s*it that the media call it metal(core) nowadays and the industry sell it labeled as “the real thing” to the naive teenagers. Surprise!! No electronic layers, no bass drops, no borrowed, Skrillex type of contortions. Fortunately!

Tracklist:

01 – Aimless Arrow
02 – Trespass
03 – Tender Abuse
04 – Sadness Comes Home
05 – Empty on the Inside
06 – Sparrow’s Fall
07 – Glacial Pace
08 – Vicious Muse
09 – Veins and Vails
10 – Coral Blue
11 – Shame in the Way
12 – Precipice
13 – All We Love We Leave Behind
14 – Predatory Glow

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrcY9I-BbjM&w=545&h=307]

“Aimless Arrow” introduce us in the contorted, chaotic, hardcore punk flavored, intense, metallic world of Converge. The sound it’s surprisingly unpolished, but kicking and alive, positively tensioned and noisy.
“Trespass” it’s kind of more focused, the riffs are cutting through and the Pantera taste-like aggression coming to life as a wicked pretender to the throne. And “Tender Abuse” just pushing forward the limits of the extreme, fast, brutal massacres.
“Sadness Comes Home” kick’s in with a Pantera flavored riff and then switch into a Black Flag fueled hardcore punk gallop beside which speed metal feels like slow-motion. “Empty on the Inside” brings back the slower, bone cutter, southern and stoner metal flavored riffs and that suffocating, gloomy tension running through the veins of the whole song. “Sparrow’s Fall” it’s another hardcore punk/chaotic metal butchery: 1 and half minute of pure slaughter. “Glacial Pace” feels like a modern reiteration of the infamous spirit of Black Sabbath, slow grinding, heavy passages and speeding up, intense massacres are build together to crush you under its weight.
“Vicious Muse” it’s another furious hardcore punk fueled and heavy as metal song with a powerful, memorable riff. “Veins and Vails” starting slower, but then again speeding up to became another monster, a furious, raging track, smashing off everything in it’s way throughout. It’s fantastic how much energy they managed to capture to the tapes while they recorded these songs. And somehow Kurt Ballou managed something magical, something unique. He managed where Rick Rubin failed with Metallica’s “Death Magnetic”: he capture the essence, the power and the rawness of the underground sound and even further, managed to kept it alive on the recording. This genuine sound it’s raw, unpolished and grinding. This sound it’s actually a killer weapon.
“Coral Blue” surfacing almost as an epic, doom hymn, give the listeners a short break to breath again after a terrific rampage of furious massacre. This one feels like Voivod crashed into Celtic Frost to build together a Hawkwind tribute song.
“Shame in the Way” comes like a kick in tooth, explode rowdy and disturbing. The killer riffs taking over and ripping the flesh off from the bones. Once again.
“Precipice” it’s a slow and soundly, surprisingly gentle interlude witch flows into the menacing title track “All We Love We Leave Behind”, a genuine, contorted, but powerful metal construction build to last.
“Predatory Glow” it’s another classic metal construction with roots back to the late 80’s and mid 90’s reveling the unstoppable power of metal in it’s true nature.

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