50 Best Hard Rock & Heavy Metal Albums Of 2017

Where the Hell do I even begin when talking about Converge?

The metalcore/mathcore forefathers have basically enjoyed their entire career as one long, unhindered streak of musical perfection, with the American quartet’s constant acclaim dating all the way back to their sophomore album Petitioning the Empty Sky (1996).

From then on the group has just gone from strength to strength: the career-defining Jane Doe (2001) led into the equally harsh You Fail Me (2004), before the visceral trio of No Heroes (2006), Axe to Fall (2009) and All We Love We Leave Behind (2012) only upped in quality with each consecutive release.

All this leads to The Dusk in Us.

Converge’s ninth record overall, it comes five years after the group’s last full-length foray, but is driven by such frenetic, hardcore-inspired aggression that it feels like, for Kurt Ballou et al., not a single day has passed.

Its lyrics are just as punk and savage as ever, punctuated as usual by the manic wailing of Jacob Bannon, who manages to add an agonised character to his equally impassioned words of wisdom. Ballou’s guitars are pure hardcore, through and through, permeating with a mix of despondent sludge and bone-rattling speed; the manner with which “Reptilian” descends from slow, clean-cut atmosphere to smashing chords is utterly earth-shattering.

But who am I kidding here?

You probably know just as well as I do that, at its core, every moment of The Dusk in Us is a highlight in its own (usually violent) way.