About Converge
Converge is an American metalcore band formed by vocalist and artist Jacob Bannon and guitarist and producer Kurt Ballou in Salem, Massachusetts in 1990. While recording their landmark fourth album Jane Doe in 2001, the group became a four-piece with the departure of guitarist Aaron Dalbec and the addition of bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller. This lineup has remained intact since. The members have also been involved in various side-projects and collaborations, including the bands Supermachiner , Old Man Gloom , and Mutoid Man . With their extremely aggressive and boundary-pushing sound, rooted in hardcore and heavy metal, they are pioneers of metalcore and its subgenre mathcore.
Converge rose to prominence with Jane Doe, which was ranked the best album of 2001 by Terrorizer, the best album of the decade by Sputnikmusic, and later the 61st-best metal album of all time by Rolling Stone. After, they moved from Equal Vision Records to the larger label Epitaph Records, and their record production became more elaborate and expensive. Special releases are often handled by Deathwish Inc., established by Bannon in 1999. Their latest releases are their ninth studio album The Dusk in Us and their first full-length collaboration, Bloodmoon: I with Chelsea Wolfe. According to AllMusic, they are "regarded as one of the most original and innovative bands to emerge from the punk underground."
Converge was formed in the winter of 1990 by Bannon and Ballou, they were later joined by high school friends Jeff Feinberg and Damon Bellorado in 1991. They started by playing covers of hardcore punk, punk rock and heavy metal songs. The band soon graduated to playing live performances in mid-1991, after recording some demos on a 4-track recorder. The band started writing and playing what they consider "relevant" music in 1994.
In 1994 the band became a five piece when Aaron Dalbec was recruited as a second guitarist. Later in the year Converge released their debut album, Halo in a Haystack, released through Earthmaker Records. This was only released as a vinyl record, limited to 1000 copies and it was never repressed. The record was funded by Bannon through money he saved up from working at a nursing home.
In 1995 Converge released their first compilation album, Caring and Killing, which featured tracks from the band's early work from the years 1991 to 1994. The album was originally released as a European exclusive through Lost & Found Records. However, Converge became dissatisfied with the way the label was handling the release and overcharging fans for their hard-to-find older songs. The album was re-released through Hydra Head Records on November 17, 1997 in America to "make an overpriced release obsolete". Converge also released a seven-inch EP called Unloved and Weeded Out in 1995, which Bannon links more to contemporary Converge than the stuff that predated it.
In 1996 Converge released a four-song EP, Petitioning the Empty Sky. It was released through Ferret Music, and was one of the earliest releases through the newly-formed label. Later that same year the record was re-released with four additional new tracks. Two years later, the record was reissued through Converge's new label Equal Vision Records on January 20, 1998. This version contained the previous eight tracks as well as three newly added live tracks, recorded during a radio broadcast. Due to the addition of the new tracks, fans and sources consider this to be Converge's second studio album, while the band considers it a compilation album because it is a collection of songs recorded at different times.
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