Converge

is a crossover Heavy Metal-Hardcore Punk band formed in 1990 in Salem, Massachusetts, having released seven studio albums to date. Considered to be a founding father of the Metalcore and Mathcore genres, the band helped define many facets of metallic hardcore for many bands to come. They are well-known for blending extreme metal, hardcore punk and the various vocal stylings of singer/vocalist Jacob Bannon. Because of their distinctive style, the band is considered very good, but very abrasive and possibly unpleasing to first-time listeners. Despite this, over the years Converge has won a large fanbase and critical acclaim, with Sputnikmusic declaring that their 2001 release Jane Doe was the best album of the decade.

The band currently consists of:

• Jacob Bannon (vocals, lyrics, visual art)
• Kurt Ballou (guitar, vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, Theremin, recording/production)
• Nate Newton (bass guitar, vocals)
• Ben Koller (drums)

• Halo in a Haystack, 1994
• Petitioning The Empty Sky, 1996, 1997 as a remastered release
• When Forever Comes Crashing, 1998
• Jane Doe, 2001
• You Fail Me, 2004
• No Heroes, 2006
• Axe to Fall, 2009

• An Axe to Grind: Axe to Fall, pun not withstanding.
• Break Up Song: The entire album Jane Doe.
• Careful with That Axe: Arguably the band's most defining characteristic. Behold.
• Concept Album: Jane Doe is sort of one, dealing with the aftermath of a bad relationship.
• Cover Version: They did a cover of "Disintegration" by The Cure.
• Despair Event Horizon: A common theme from When Forever Comes Crashing and Jane Doe, most prominently featured in Hell to Pay:

Cheap lips, soft eyes, lost in the most blinding lights As cold as those first nights alone As the second best he'll become Sleep deep, girl, dream well That night, I think he cried himself to sleep Just maybe, he felt more than we could ever know And I think he pulled that trigger to empty that memory I think he cut the weight to end the floods of you Let him soar, let him ride as budding gravestones do Just sleep, girl, just dream well

• Doom Metal: "Wretched World".
• Epic Rocking: A handful of their songs. The longest are probably "Grim Heart/Black Rose" (about nine minutes) and "Jane Doe" (about twelve).
• Grief Song: Lots, "Dark Horse" a particularly well-known example.
• Grindcore: Not really, though it's a very obvious influence on their sound, what with the frequent use of D-beats, blastbeats and quite short songs.
• Harsh Vocals: Oh God yes. Jacob Bannon's vocal style is unusually high-pitched and screechy for hardcore punk, and has been compared to that of an angry pterodactyl.
• Indecipherable Lyrics: For the most part.
• Last-Note Nightmare: The previously mentioned "Phoenix In Flames" is one song's worth of this, as it follows the downtempo, almost-shoegazy Phoenix in Flight.
• Long Runner Lineup: Since Aaron Dalbec's leaving in 2001, their line-up has remained constant as of 2011.
• Lyrical Dissonance: Jane Doe, one of the angriest and emotionally raw albums of all ever was written about a nasty breakup.
• Miniscule Rocking: Plenty of their songs. The opening of No Heroes goes through five songs in about the same amount of minutes.
• Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness: Most of Converge's output is at least an 8. At their most, they're a solid 11.
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: At least once an album. "Ten Cents" on When Forever Comes Crashing, "Phoenix in Flight" on Jane Doe (and, at a push, "Hell to Pay" as well), "In Her Shadow" on You Fail Me, "Grim Heart/Black Rose" on No Heroes (although the very end is fairly heavy) and "Cruel Bloom" and "Wretched World" on Axe to Fall.
• Perishing Alt Rock Voice: Jacob Bannon's singing voice is like this, and if they have a guest vocalist in the chances are they'll sing like this too.
• Progressive Metal: A big influence on the sound of Axe to Fall.
• Straight Edge: All of the members, with the exception of drummer Ben Koller.
• Three Chords and the Truth: Subverted- the raw, unrefined and driving sound made them famous, they base a lot of their songs off of polyrhythmic drumming and complex guitar work.
• Trope Codifier: For metallic hardcore, and arguably mathcore as well.
• Uncommon Time: Their frenetic time signature changes laid the groundwork for what would later be called mathcore.
• Vanity Publishing: Deathwish Inc., Jacob Bannon's record label, has been accused of this. It's hardly surprising that some of their earliest releases were his solo projects.