New Music Report – November 19, 2021
The year is winding to a close and we’ve only got a few more albums that are really big on the horizon, but we’re not done yet. It’s hard to put a cap on any year when there’s still a Converge album coming out. These albums this week are some of the perfect ways to start wrapping up this year, both of off the rails side project and a true return to form, summarizing a lot of what we’ve been going through, both on a personal level, and musically this past year. Just so happens they’re both pretty damn good too, which is also very on brand.
Blood Moon (Converge/Chelsea Wolfe/Steven Broadsky) – I’ve honestly been waiting on this album for five years now. Back at Roadburn 2016, Converge played the first Blood Moon set with Chelsea Wolfe and her guitarist and Steven Brodsky from Cave-In. It was very different from what we usually expect from Converge, but kind of exactly what you’d expect if you’re familiar with the intersection of all of these artists. It’s a lot more atmospheric, sludgey, and slow-burn heavy than you’d traditionally expect from a Converge album, but you honestly shouldn’t think of this as a Converge album. It’s so much more than that, and the final product that you get is really perfect. If you do look at it form a Converge-centric perspective though, it’s really not that far out of line. If you listen to all their albums over the past 15 years or so, you can hear them slowly leaning more towards post-metal and sludge elements in their songwriting, and bringing in guest spots from bands like Neurosis, which is absolutely on brand with this sound. And what you get here is really the extreme of that, and the final product is frankly incredible. If you understand just how big this collaboration is, then you’re surely going to love this album.
Volumes – This album very firmly marks the return of Volumes. Technically, they’ve always been, but man this band has been through some shit. They kicked out the original vocalist and they made the other vocalist the lead vocalist and he also started rapping? Then in 2020, he was kicked out, along with his brother, the lead guitarist, who passed away a week later and they brought back the original vocalist. I honestly don’t know how they made it through all of this, but they pulled it together and put together a truly remarkable album. They deserve all the credit in the world for still carrying on, letting alone being able to put together such a well done piece of music right on the other side of all of this. This album honestly narrowly misses out on my top 10 list, but it’s just not quite there. However, it does feel like a fresh start for Volumes. It feels genuine, it feels cathartic, and it feels like something that was very important to these guys on a personal level. This is a really great album, and it’s really great to see these guys continuing on.
Singles/Albums – Maybeshewill (LP, Post-Rock), Obscura (LP, Metal), Mayday Parade (LP, Alt Rock), Silverstein (Post-Hardcore), Wolves at the Gate (Post-Hardcore), Animals as Leaders (Progressive Metal), Teeth (Metalcore/Hardcore), Khemmis (Doom)