Converge - You Fail Me

Converge
You Fail Me
Epitaph Records
Grade: A-

With some crazy, sweet artwork and packaging, everyone’s favorite Boston punk-metal group unleashes You Fail Me to completely demolish your sense of self. Possibly taking cues from some of their wild brethren, You Fail Me’s twelve tracks certainly take a turn to the increasingly chaotic and extreme over past records. It is good to see the Converge boys releasing new fury as it seems more and more these days that the dual combo of Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou are spending their days producing and recording other bands, doing record artwork and running labels – very busy indeed. Probably the most impressive thing about Converge is that they are still relevant and smoking after over a decade of reckless abandon in live shows and recordings. For instance, how is it possible that Bannon’s voice is still intact after all these years? Is it just totally destroyed so that he talks with a scream? Probably not. As with much of Converge’s past material there is healthy dose of balls-out songs on You Fail Me where Ballou’s guitar focuses on the punk spectrum of metal playing (for instance, “Eagles Become Vultures,” “Black Cloud” and “Death King”). But also Converge offer drawn out and/or esoteric compositions with the likes of “Last Light,” the awesome latter riffs on “Drop Out,” “In Her Blood” and “You Fail Me.” To play with the likes of your mind, Converge includes the six-plus-minute acoustic driven number “In Her Shadow.” “In Her Shadow” slowly builds with drums and voices coming with a quasi-chanting monk feel. If you have been taken by past Converge records then you will surely love this. If nothing else, the record’s packaging will get people moving.