ALBUM REVIEW: Bloodmoon: I – Converge

It hasn’t taken long for CONVERGE‘s Blood Moon shows to become the stuff of heavy music legend. For four dates in April 2016, the hardcore titans joined forces with CHELSEA WOLFE, Ben Chisolm, Stephen Brodsky and Steve Von Till to play slower, more ambient interpretations of some of the band’s quieter and lesser known songs. It was, by all accounts, a transcendental experience – one that many missed out on given the shows’ limited run. The idea of studio material has been an eye-watering prospect ever since. Finally, five years later, that prospect has come to fruition in the form of an 11-track studio album. Entitled Bloodmoon: I, it sees CONVERGE and co. return – minus Von Till this time – for a towering masterclass in post-metal majesty.

A large part of what makes this record such a success rests on its truly collaborative spirit. This isn’t a collection of different parts and personalities tacked together, it’s the work of a cohesive and co-ordinated whole. The group make full use of their expanded line-up, embellishing a thunderous metallic core with strings, pianos, synths, textures and more. Lead singles Blood Moon and Coil both prove as much, but grandeur remains the name of the game throughout. Tenth track Crimson Stone stands especially tall, a staggering, dynamic highlight amid a sea of invariable quality. It’s also one of the album’s most melodic tracks, and one of its most emotionally stirring as a result.

It’s not just the music that draws on the full weight of this group’s talented arsenal. Wolfe, Brodsky and CONVERGE frontman Jacob Bannon all lend their intensely individual vocal stylings to the record. This provides plenty of opportunities for variation and juxtaposition, especially between Wolfe’s more haunting and delicate tones and Bannon and Brodsky’s harsher barks and shouts. That isn’t to say any of them stick exclusively to those lanes either though. Both Bannon and Brodsky provide plenty of clean vocals, while Wolfe’s banshee-like screams on Blood Moon prove she can bring her own savagery too. The trio can also be especially impactful when they coalesce, as they do notably on fourth track Flower Moon.

Of course, there are moments on Bloodmoon: I where the individual performers get a chance to shine too. Seventh track Failure Forever for example sees Brodsky capture some of CAVE IN’s spaced out melodicism for arguably the record’s most memorable chorus. After that, Scorpion’s Sting provides a change of pace as Wolfe takes the limelight with a sultry, smoky ballad. There are also moments where what some might call a more typical CONVERGE sound pokes through. The blasting D-beats that kick off second track Viscera Of Men are arguably the most obvious example here, but the noisier leanings of the back-to-back pair of Tongues Playing Dead and Lord Of Liars which arrive in the middle of the record also fit the bill.

For all its thunder and fury however, Bloodmoon: I can be just as striking in its delicacy. This a dynamic, considered record, its moments of quiet hammering home the band’s most powerful force. Granted, this is pretty common in post-metal, but it never feels like a cliché or a trope here. Instead, every choice seems to serve the overall flow and feel of the record and its individual tracks. It makes for a mature offering all round, with the whole group sounding like they’ve been playing together for decades.

By now, the weight of expectation on any CONVERGE record is ridiculously high. Add to that the reverence with which the Blood Moon shows are so often spoken of, and the quality of the additional performers here, and we’re easily talking about one of the most anticipated albums of the year. The fact that this record meets such lofty expectations is astounding. Landing just shy of an hour, its 11 tracks pass by in the blink of an eye. Bloodmoon: I is nothing short of exceptional, its every detail captured masterfully by producer and guitarist Kurt Ballou. Perhaps most exciting of all however is that the I in the record’s title no doubt indicates that this won’t be the last we hear from CONVERGE and co. in this powerful and potent expanded form.

Rating: 9/10

Bloodmoon: I is set for release on November 19th via Epitaph Records.

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