Converge - Jane Doe

Someone once told me that music, above all else, is essentially made up of tension and release. On the piano for instance, no matter what key you re playing in, you can basically play whatever you want as long as it all resolves properly. The mess of notes is the tension, the resolution is the release. I think what drew me to harder music was the fact that with hardcore, the tension IS the release.

The first time I heard Jane Doe by Converge, it was pretty hard to wrap my head around what was going on, it all sounded garbled and wild. With repeated listens I started to really hear the musicality of it all. In between all the yelling and chaos there is a group of musicians with pure talent, and completely aware of what they are doing. Ben Koller drives the band with an insane blend of extreme metal, punk, jazz and progressive drumming.

Koller can fit rolls into any space, the rhythms in Distance and Meaning are made up of swirling tom rolls and well places snare shots. When the chorus kicks in, Koller plays a balls out rock beat that cuts out to leave space for a feedback boost. Concubine and Fault and Fracture take a lot more from metal drumming, They have a mix of blast beats and tom work that matches the guitar riffs.

Converge can also bust out the sludgy, slow jams. The title track, Jane Doe seems to go the Melvins route and keeps things at a slow tempo, beefing it up a little. Koller sounds like he is beating the crap out of his drums, but when you watch studio footage of him he really has a light touch.

I guess that's how he manages to play so god damn fast.

Audio/Visual Evidence : Fault And Fracture, The Broken Vow