Converge
Axe to Fall

"Axe to Fall" took a really big risk: awaited for years, it perhaps risked being "just" the new Converge record. Powerful, vicious, angry, but also already heard, colorless, bland: an album whose only real novelty is the impressive quantity of guests, "a record composed too much on autopilot", says a pretty famous metal site, and the definition seems apt.

But not entirely: the initial trio of "Dark Horse" (the broken stride is splendid), "Reap What You Sow" (where Slayer's influence is definitely felt) and the beastly "Axe To Fall" (the latter perhaps too similar to a certain episode of "No Heroes") make an impression even in the impressive discography of the Boston group, and though the tracklist subsequently weakens a bit (the sludge experiments of "Worms will feed, Rats will feast" are nevertheless beautiful), it is with the final duo that the aforementioned record manages to impose itself and make the famous quantum leap: "Cruel Bloom" is an extraordinary ballad à la Johnny Cash with a duet with Steve Von Till as the icing on the cake and the last one, "Wretched World", best represents the more melodic and experimental Converge sound, brushing the status of absolute masterpiece.

If you are a great artist, you are led to think that there are no risks, that it's all easy, that it's enough to look in the mirror to create something grand, original, everlasting. I disagree. For great artists, risks definitely exist. You can get lost in mannerism, become slaves to your own creations, lock yourself in the famous "golden cage" and never get out, almost as if your entire work becomes a well-defined, institutionalized product.

A handful of songs less and we would truly be talking about a new "Jane Doe", for now, let's settle for acknowledging that Converge can once again be defined as great artists.