The incredibly influential and distinctively chaotic Converge have been busy over the last couple of decades making themselves a household name among any metal or hardcore fan without failing to produce an album bursting with creativity and pure brutality. They consistently push the boundaries of heavy music with their ludicrously intricate riffs, their incessantly varying time signatures and rhythms and their ferocity. Already with several critically acclaimed albums under their belt, including Jane Doe which propelled Converge into the metalcore limelight, how could Converge possibly exceed themselves and withhold their reputation as one of the most exciting bands to date? The answer is All We Love We Leave Behind.
Aimless Arrow launches All We Love We Leave Behind into its path of destruction which ensues for a merciless 38 minutes. It allows us no time to prepare for the chaos that is Converge with Ballou's elaborate guitar blaring out of the speakers. However in Aimless Arrow a side of Converge that we don't see too often is laid bare to witness in Bannon's noticeably clean vocals relative to preceding albums.
As brutal as Aimless Arrow was, it was simply a warm up for Trespasses, a blitz of deranged percussion which more or less dominates the track as the guitar and bass accompany aimlessly weaving in and out of each other. The chaos is no where near over as Tender Abuse offers more of the same brute. Though don't get me wrong, the two tracks are vastly different. Where Trespasses is a ruthless assault of your ear drums, Tender Abuse becomes a dark demented march pounding through the anarchic discordance.
Sadness Comes Home leaps from an intensely thick guitar riff and steady controlling percussion which pulsates right through your heart, to a showcase of the immense ability of the guitarist Ballou. The bass on Empty on the Inside shakes your bones to the very core as the march-like drums gradually build up alongside the haunting vocals into Sparrow's Fall which takes the baton of savageness and continues onward down the path of destruction. Vicious Muse starts off with an almost 'Gallows'-esque percussion intro displaying their versatility as both essentially metal and hardcore.
Nevertheless, the album doesn't solely consist of fast-paced displays of musical brilliance and aggression. The somber Coral Blue is a much calmer track featuring a beautifully elegant guitar solo and deep, growling vocals. Then Precipice, a short purely instrumental track acting as a kind of prelude to the title track All We Love We Leave Behind, is hypnotizing in its bareness and its barely audible yet eerie piano part. The main theme of Precipice is maintained in All We Love We Leave Behind. The moment the relative tranquility of Precipice effortlessly transforms into the turbulent violence of All We Love We Leave Behind is without a doubt my favourite moment of the whole album.
An album that displays so much sheer brilliance from all members of the band as well as many many striking moments is very hard to review; there is too much to mention. Converge may be made up of some of the best and most innovative musicians in the genre today. Nonetheless, it's not perfect. 17 tracks is a bit much for an album as blisteringly heavy as this that by the end I found myself a bit lost in all the complex guitar riffs and hammering percussion. More tracks along the lines of Precipice or Coral Blue would have made the album more balanced. Naturally, this album is not easy listening. It leaves you exhausted and dazed by the end of it struggling to make sense of what you just heard. It goes without saying that this All We Love We Leave Behind won't be to everyone's taste, but then again that has never been Converge's aim. I would strongly recommend this as essential listening for any metal or hardcore fan, or anything in between, but prepare to brace yourself!
Overall rating: 8/10
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