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Rating:
Please; and I say this with all my heart: those with weak hearts, abstain!!!!!! Here, there's a serious risk of a heart attack, a total collapse!!
After Jane Doe from 2002, which pushed extreme music forward by light-years by rewriting it from the inside (what we now commonly call metal-core is the result of the experiments of this combo and a few others: like Today Is The Day and Neurosis), and after the subsequent 2004 album, You Fail Me, which opened a more accessible, more punk, and less intense door (thanks also to their contract with Epitaph), this latest album simply titled No Heroes comes out. . . and they come out with the most brutal work they have conceived so far. It's a derailing train at full speed that tramples everything and doesn't stop in front of anything this No Heroes, it destroys the mind and the body. . .
It starts off with the initial noise loop of heartache, a scant minute and a half of noise grind and post hardcore. . . the first part of the album goes like this. . . up until the fifth track, they don't go over a minute and a half in duration. . . but don't think this affects the outcome. . . nothing could be more wrong!!! The band's mastery in handling such scorching stuff makes it so that even in one minute, they know how to condense more ideas than many other bands can in 5 minutes; don't think of a blender. . . . everything is compact here!! Heterogeneous but homogeneous at the same time!!!
With the sixth track, you get the first real song. . . a frenzied and thrashy rhythm carries the piece forward. . . compelling and devastating!! Not even Slayer could do better!! The level of unhealthy adrenaline is through the roof!! If you had someone in front of you that pissed you off, you'd surely kick them in the mouth. . . without hesitation!! The surprise comes with the eighth track, the longest on the album. . . a mini-suite of pain and suffering. . . on vocals, in the first part there's a friend of Jacob, with a warm and melancholic tone; the acoustic guitar takes over, with a loop so sad and hopeless that it gives goosebumps; the song continues to build in intensity. . . . until the final collapse. . . after 9 minutes of sadness and despair sublimated into music.
From here to the end of the album, it's a succession of memorable and ingenious moments!!!
A mammoth lava flow that does not cease to stop in front of anything. . . Gorgeous Trophy Scars, where the degree of intensity increases vertiginously!! The album has a circular structure, it starts devastating and ends devastating with the destructive To The Lions, acidic and malevolent. . . Converge almost seem to take satisfaction in the sight of all us mere mortals who writhe under such power of execution. . . with a malevolent grin, they'll smash us in the face like no one has ever been able to do until now, perhaps only Today Is The Day can stand up to them regarding power and acidity!!
They are perpetually ahead. . . always one step above the competition. . . always looking beyond. . . They fear no rivals. . . these are the Converge!! I say it and I repeat it: those with weak hearts, abstain!!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Hellbound (01:07)
for lost hope and his son
i’ll avenge what once was
for his name and his love
these cold hands spill their blood
grant me the strength
to stand up straight
to make them pay
spill their blood
grant me the strength
to bear this weight
show me the way
spill their blood
04 Vengeance (00:58)
enemies eve
burn to believe
guns in the ground
are all i see
love liars thieves
all targets to me
jaws at my heels
mean nothing to me
knives at your throats
all that i see
don’t doubt me
i am vengeance
i’m built for war
06 No Heroes (03:43)
in vein and valor
be what they fear
their days are over
our nights are here
with hate and heartache
i’ll strike you down
with rage and rapture
i crush your crown
no more gods
no more graves
no more love
no more hate
hell hammer comes down
onto their blade
our world of widows
needs to be saved
it’s now or never
victim or victory
rebel or regret
who you are and who you claim to be
no more heroes
no more
no more
in my world of enemies
i walk alone
09 Orphaned (01:39)
Bright eyes Fading young eyes Beaten to black and blue Sunrise has been sinking since I was two One wounded and another dead I've spent years building these walls When all of this time my sky has been falling Burden to bare this anger is empty but heavy My heart carries the weight of your world My wounds are open I am out of blood
10 Lonewolves (02:18)
from a victim to a friend
don’t ever let them in
keep your scars on your sleeve
and your heart in your hands
all the whores with their wars
their gaping mouths want more
all of them choke on regret
we sit in silence
dead or dedicated
alive or medicated
a coward queen or harlot heart
it’s up to you
this world owes you nothing
this world owes me nothing
this world owes us nothing
but a hard road to walk
these mountains that we climb
is everything they’ve lost
this world owes us nothing
but a hard road to walk
these mountains that we move
are everywhere we look
it’s all up to me and you
14 To the Lions (03:40)
to the lions
as she closes her doors
to end this night
this raging sea
won’t have you
this weary grave
won’t keep you
these tired arms
won’t hold you
as she closes her doors
to the lions
inferno dreams
won’t leave you
this moonless night
won’t guide you
these brittle ghosts
won’t love you
as she closes her doors
queen of guilt
queen of grief
remember them
(erase me)
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Other reviews
By Fingers up my noose
A mature album that encapsulates and blends most of the elements that have characterized the sound and soul of Converge.
The title track is a real gem of destruction and a hymn to anti self-celebration and celebrations in general.
By MahatmaTheKing
They combined the scream of despair from "Jane Doe" with the bloody gaze of "You Fail Me."
For almost five minutes we are deprived of the ability to breathe, such is the oppression this track creates.
