Converge – Axe to Fall released October 20, 2009 on Epitaph Words cannot capture the depths of my frustration with the Massachusetts metalcore pioneers, who have been challenging heavy music audiences for nearly two tenacious decades. This changes now. I appreciated this album from the moment it emerged from the beautiful, grimy, and cryptic artwork of Jacob Bannon. Now his vocals have––and still––put me off some of the time (they command your full attention, even with the lyrics in hand), but I was f’n determined. See, I/you/we all need this band on our maps. Some are calling this their [...read more]

The first band of the evening, and quite a short set. I snapped the most pictures during High On Fire, unfortunately sucking up most of my battery life. Well, that’s what I get for forgetting to charge my batteries beforehand. I gotta say, for the only shirtless guy that night, Matt Pike has quite a belly on him! If he wasn’t a legendary ultra-badass, that would probably work against him.

I tried to take as many pictures as possible with the camera before it died completely. You’ll notice an ever-so-slight difference in quality with the shots taken with my Blackberry Storm. I at least got a couple close-ups of the great Brendon Small, one of my heroes for so many reasons.

Maybe it was due to the earplugs, but this was probably my best experience with Converge to date. Live, they leave it all on stage, positively radiating energy across the crowd. Despite being my least favorite of the four bands that night, they were easily the most entertaining to watch.

When most people think of metal, the last thing to come to their mind would be Christianity. Countless bands have caused metal to be much more associated with Satanism. However, there is and has always been a place for the church-going metalhead. Bands like Stryper and Trouble proved in the ’80s that you do not have to be evil to headbang. Nowadays, Christian metal bands aren’t too rare, though you may have to dig a bit to find them. The Crimson Armada are one of a handful of bands to style their music with heavy Christian themes.

Allow me to begin by saying that these guys are going to really go somewhere. Any metalhead will agree that metalcore is currently the “big thing” as far as metal in pop culture goes. Eventually, however, it’s going to wear out it’s welcome, just as hair metal bands of the ’80s did. Now, deathcore is already beginning to break its way into the public eye. Armed for Apocalypse is now starting something that may not be new, but is much more accessible, really emphasizing the -core in sludgecore.

What’s that? A metalcore album that sounds fresh? Yes, my friends, that is what you have found in Threat Signal’s sophomore effort, Vigilance. It is not innovative by any means, though it also does not sound like your typical album in said genre.

Finland and symphonic metal seem to go together like two peas in a pod. Exporting bands such as Nightwish, Apocalyptica, and Ensiferum, it is difficult to challenge their aFINNity (pun intended) for applying the strings to metal.

Cut from the same cloth–and hailing from the same state–as Mastodon, the two bands share stylistic similarities and are inspired by a select canon. While their brothers have recently soared into Voivod-ian skies, here Baroness has taken Kyuss by the hand and staked a claim deep in the earth.

This is the album Big Business would have written this year had they remained a duo, decided to compose after heavy mushroom consumption, and reacted violently.