Review: Converge ‘Hum Of Hurt’
Blessed are we, those who suffer under the yoke of life, to receive TWO NEW CONVERGE RECORDS IN ONE YEAR! Yes, that may seem overexcited, but seriously, an album by hardcore’s most uncompromisingly singular bands is a treat to be savoured, let alone two.
I reviewed Love Is Not Enough earlier in the year and was blown away by just how complete it felt as an encapsulation of the band’s career.
They have described Hum Of Hurt as a more raw and emotional record, which leaves me frothing with anticipation. ‘The Hum’ is a reported frequency phenomenon that affects sporadic parts of the globe, haunting towns and people. The band have re-imagined it as the aural culmination of all human suffering, and thus the album theme was born.
Originally conceived as a more noise-rock record, Converge have ended up with two different yet equally volatile albums from that concept. If Love Is Not Enough was their more metallic album, then Hum Of Hurt is noisy, angular hardcore at its finest.
Opener Slip The Noose is a blast of stabbing riffs and chaotic melodies, all drenched in noisy distortion while Jacob Bannon shrieks and screams his throat to bits. Doom In Bloom has drummer Ben Koller and bassist Nate Newton at their full powerhouse best, pounding beneath a repetitive, sinister riff and skittering melodic guitar work. Kurt Ballou has always given us some of the most interesting guitar melodies, stop-starting and flowing erratically over the frets like a drunk spider in hobnail boots.
It is always fascinating to watch how they complement the hardest of hardcore riffs though, like the pit-igniting Detonator or the scouring sections of It’s Not Up to Us. Few bands can sound so experimental and fundamental at the same time but Converge have always done this. I suppose the real surprise is that after thirty-odd years, they can still send electricity through your veins.
an album of catharsis, of pure fury and an expulsion of emotion the likes of which we rarely see…
Dream Debris is the track that stands out for me though; rumbling with menace like a stalking predator, exposing raw emotions occasionally throughout but never leaving that intensity behind. Moving into the cold tones of It Used To Matter and the bubbling magma chamber of the title track, it feels like you are gazing deep into the souls of Converge – torn open and laid bare for all to see in their raw fragility; an idea at odds with their inherent, radiating power.
Closing with Nothing Is Over, you can see the roots of their noise-rock concept lurking in the dark ambient ‘hum’ and industrial electronics that plague the track. It is a fascinating window into what could have been and, knowing Converge, what could be next.
With the deluge of releases that hit us, seemingly more and more each year to boot, it is a challenge for anything to burst through into that Album of the Year zeitgeist. But Converge have dropped two of their most essential works in years, within months of each other, and both are magnificent examples of just why they are hardcore’s most important modern band. Hum Of Hurt is an album of catharsis, of pure fury and an expulsion of emotion the likes of which we rarely see. The perfect sibling to Love Is Not Enough, and a new standard in scorched earth hardcore, this is just Converge‘s year. Outstanding.
Label: Deathwish Inc | Epitaph Records
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Sandy Williamson
