Converge, Featuring Chelsea Wolfe/Ben Chisholm/Steve Brodsky: Bloodmoon: I

 

Converge, Featuring Chelsea Wolfe/Ben Chisholm/Steve Brodsky

Bloodmoon: I

Deathwish, Inc./Epitath

Rating: 9.5/10

By: Nicholas A. Minyard

For: Sounds From The Basement

There are a few albums in my life that leave a huge impression on me from the first listen. A few that come to mind are “Jane Doe” by Converge, “Bloody Kisses” by Type O Negative, “Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloraim” by Gorgoroth, “Container Ships” by Kowloon Walled City, and “Hiss Spun” by Chelsea Wolfe. Something all of these albums had in common to me were, other than solid riffs, crisp performance, and memorable tracks, was that they brought something new to the table that I hadn't heard before. With Jane Doe and Bloody Kisses, I was given pain conveyed through music, granted both ways were drastically different, but it was perfectly conveyed. Through Ad Majorem, I was given a sonic blast of aggression while being paired with more cinematic tracks that gave me a slower, but still incredibly powerful, strike. Container Ships taught me that an album can easily flow from track to track with near-poetic performances from each and every instrument, and Hiss Spun showed me an artist can grow and evolve into darker and heavier tones while keeping the same energy and artistry that they begun with. While I have experienced those same emotions and experiences with other albums, the above mentioned are the ones that stuck with me for years and years. Two of those artists are very important in this review, those being Chelsea Wolfe and Converge. Chelsea Wolfe, bandmate Ben Chisholm, and the legendary Steve Brodsky of Cave-In and Old Man
Gloom fame, join Converge on their newest effort, “Bloodmoon: I” “Bloodmoon: I” is, in my opinion, hard to label as just a Converge album, because of the enormous contribution that the other artists on the record provide, and the past history of the “Blood Moon” collaborative project. Blood Moon dates back to 2016, when all the aforementioned musicians performed 4 shows under the moniker, providing audiences with slower and more post-rock/ambient renditions of some of Converge's lesser known and slower tracks. Fast forward a few years, and we have “Bloodmoon: I,” a perfect accumulation of all of the artists needs and desires from their music.

Now, I attempted to think of a way I could do a track-by-track review of this record, but the more I listened to it, the less I thought that going that route would give the project justice. This is an album that DEMANDS to be listened to from front to back. After initially hearing the singles for the record, Blood Moon and Coil, I found myself wondering how the album would play out. Now that I have heard the whole thing, I can attest that the singles do not do the entirety of the album justice. Wolfe and Jacob Bannon play off each other beautifully in almost every track, with Wolfe's haunting voice drawing the listener deeper into the compositions, much like a siren into a watery abyss, and Bannon providing a vocal performance that embody the demons found in said abyss. However, that does not just include his signature harsh vocals, but also more clean vocals than I can recall hearing on almost any of Converge's previous albums. I hesitate to call it a “Beauty-and-the-Beast” contrast, due to the fact they sometimes become one and the same, Wolfe's vocals becoming a beautiful beast, and Bannon becoming a beastly beauty. Along with the duo's performance, Gregorian style chanting, layered vocal tracks, and contrast of soft and harsh tracks are throughout the record, creating and enhancing the haunting and dark melody that the album presents. Pairing with the vocals, the instrumentation is masterfully playing to the same tone that is set. Setting a perfect example, Ben Koller on Viscera of Men starts with a fast, metalcore-esque drum track, and ends with a drumbeat that would be at home in any doom metal lovers favorite album, and carries this same theme throughout the entirety of the album, laying down some of the tightest drum tracks I have heard in his entire career with Converge. Kurt Ballou and Nate Newton are in rare form on the album, putting their knowledge from their various projects on beautiful display, seamlessly transitioning from panic-inducing Converge style riffs, doom and gloom slowed down sections rife with reverb and echo, gothic inspired accompaniments that pair immaculately with Wolfe's haunting performance, a “bar rock” track that would be the perfect soundtrack to any movie's “bar scene” (see Scorpion's Sting to fully understand) and even instances of shoegaze, black metal, post metal, and more are peppered throughout at just the right times to provide an ebb and flow for the entirety of the album. Acoustic guitar, synthesizers and organ tracks, and so much more are prevalent throughout the entire album, perfectly setting a tone of something much greater than just “a new Converge album” and elevating the instrumentation to something beyond and above. Steven Brodsky's touch is felt all across the album as well, providing passages of Cave In-esque riffs, New Idea Society melancholic refrains, and even a grunge tinge on some tracks a' la later Cave In albums. All of these factors lead into an experience of an album, where while every song can stand on it's own two feet, altogether it stands all the more taller. Each track has its own pulse, its own life, and yet, all combine and lead together to make something greater than the individual, creating a whole that is powerful, memorable, and unique. With that being said, some of the more Converge purist fans who want them to keep rehashing the same old same old Jane Doe/You Fail Me era sonic assault style album may have trouble approaching this one. There is a large amount of influence from each artist on the album, which creates an unfamiliar sound in comparison to some of their older albums, and while I (and many others) see this as natural progression and striving for artistic perfection and expression, some may see this as a band forgoing their roots and going in a weird direction. However, Converge has always had a mind for the experimental, so fans of their discography as a whole will feel right at home.

There aren't many albums that I can put on and listen to straight through multiple times in one sitting. Bloodmoon: I is one of those albums. Since the moment I pressed play, I have not been able to stop listening to it. The haunting vocal tracks Wolfe provides, Bannon playing right off of her energy, the instrumentation setting a scene of darkness and majesty, the whole of the album plays more like a sonic symphony rather than a metalcore record. The only gripes I have with the record are two; I would change the track order, rearranging the back half only slightly, to keep a more concise feeling of drowning that the record provides. My second is simple, I wish there were more. It has been some time since I have had so much enjoyment out of a record. I would compare the adventure of listening to this album akin to a sailor drowning at sea from a fable, where the siren draws them in, and the deep keeps them there. Bloodmoon: I is an orchestral feeling experience that I fully see myself returning to again and again, a perfect combination of what each musician wants and demands from their skill set, and if this is the direction Converge is going, I absolutely require a ticket for that ride. If Bloodmoon: I is the start of a whole new collaborative project, well, I had better start clearing room on my shelf for more albums, because I can see this going absolutely to the moon. I have been a fan of Wolfe since Pain is Beauty, Converge/Cave In shaped a young Nicholas into the music enjoyer I am now, and being able to listen to a collaboration between such incredible musicians has been one of the absolute highlights of my year. I want to thank each and every individual that was a part of getting this album from the studio to my ears, and thank the musicians for creating something that transcends the individual and becomes the whole.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Masterfully produced and tight sound

• Wonderful combination of each musicians talents

• A seamless listen, able to be listened to in its entirety easily

LOWLIGHTS:

• May be hard to approach by die-hard Jane Doe era fans

• Back end of the album notably slower than front end

SCORING:

Composition: 10/10

Experimentation: 10/10

Length: 8.5/10

Arrangement: 8/10

Artistry: 10/10

FINAL SCORE: 9.5/10, strong contender for personal Album of the Year.