Monthly Archives: July 2007

Formed in the winter of 1990 in Boston, MA, during the rise and subsequent fall of the legendary Boston hardcore scene, Converge are unarguably one of the most important bands in the history of aggressive music. Through numerous line-up changes (the band are currently comprised of vocalist/visual design terrorist Jacob Bannon, drummer Ben Koller, guitarist/back-up vocalist Kurt Ballou and bassist/back-up vocalist Nate Newton), musical trends (mosh, tech, guys crying and wearing make-up, ’80s thrash revival) and the coming and going of more “the next great thing” than I care to recall, Converge have established themselves as leaders in the aggressive music underground.

It seems redundant to use the word “landmark” when discussing their musical canon, as almost every album is genre-defining, but Converge’s run is unparalleled. Releases such as ‘Petitioning the Empty Sky’ (1997), ‘When Forever Comes Crashing’ (1998), ‘Jane Doe’ (2001), ‘You Fail Me’ (2004) and ‘No Heroes’ (2006) have established Converge as trendsetters and innovators, setting new standards in hardcore and metal with each release. These records have evolved the band (from their thrash-inspired, hardcore-drenched beginnings to slower, more ominous and atmospheric work to all-out Tsunami-of-hostility hell-bent on levelling creation) and produced new waves of followers and emulators with each successive work. Honestly, has there been a band more influential on past and present “successful” metal/hardcore acts as unaccredited? It’s true: integrity has its price.

After nearly 20 years, such a glorious run of releases and a live show that’s gone from flailing kids flailing against kids to legendary exorcism for both band and audience — watch the pit during “The Saddest Day” and tell me it’s not the closest thing to a near-religious experience atheists will ever have — Converge could be forgiven for releasing an endeavour that was simply good, okay, just maintaining their status quo. After all, it’s much easier to win the title than retain it, and even the greats slip from time to time. ‘Axe To Fall’ (Converge’s third release for indie institution Epitaph Records), however, is no such relapse.

True to themselves and their art, as always, no matter the cost, ‘Axe To Fall’ continues to push relentlessly forward, much like a shark that needs to always keep swimming to survive. Where ‘No Heroes’ was a refinement and broadening of hostilities declared on previous assaults such as ‘Jane Doe’, ‘Axe To Fall’ returns to the more AmRep-inspired noisecore abrasions of ‘You Fail Me’ while also updating and making vital the thrash influences that defined earlier Converge efforts (‘Caring and Killing’, ‘Petitioning the Empty Sky’) and retaining the hardcore hostilities and frantic pace so vital to their foundation. Of course, the experimental anguish and pleading for salvation are no mere sharpening of past knives but yet another leap forward in an existence full of them.

On June 4th, Tiger Army and Hellcat Records unleashed Music From Regions Beyond, hailed as one of 2007’s “Most Anticipated Albums” by Alternative Press in the US and Division promotions were pleased to be able to continue the buzz here.

The three years between ‘Music from Regions Beyond’ and ‘Ghost Tigers’ have seen Tiger Army transform from a mere band to an international phenomenon and Music from Regions Beyond is sure to become another benchmark to the band’s devoted legions.

A UK tour just prior to the albums release saw both the mainstream press and the underground punk fanzines coming out to interview and review the band, while the album received positive reviews across the board. Currently on the Warped tour, the band are due to return to the UK early next year.

Enter Shikari (the name comes from a boat that belonged to singer Rou Reynolds’ uncle) formed in 2003 in the quaint and historical home counties town of St Albans, just near enough to London to know something exciting lurked beyond the horizon, but too far away to run headlong into it.They spent their formative years forging a sound that audaciously melded hardcore punk with hardcore rave/trance. And while media scenesters down the road were harping on about the fictional nu rave scene, Enter Shikari were out there doing something much more exciting. Something that hit a nerve.  Remember those early shows? We do. We remember the sweat and the smiles, the laser beams and the elegiac choruses. We remember the blur of flashing Shikari cygnet rings as somersaulting fists pumped the air; we remember the surges of serotonin up the spine into the lower cortex. We remember looking at the crowds and thinking: holy shit – this is a generational thing! We remember Tony Wilson telling Seymour Stein to check out Enter Shikari – and we remember his reaction: “You’re not a band – you’re a revolution.”  And it was. And it still is. And then things got hectic. In summer 2006 Enter Shikari packed out the MySpace tent at Download festival on reputation alone, and by November of that year had become only the second ever unsigned band to sell out the London Astoria.  Two sold nights at the Hammersmith Palais followed shortly afterwards.

This all happened away from the patronage of any of the big record labels. Enter Shikari did it themselves – the old way. The DIY punk way. Which is why, despite plenty of offers, they decided to release their debut album ‘Take To The Skies’ on their own Ambush Reality imprint. When it cruised in at No. 4 it became one of the most successful self-released rock albums ever. That’s ever.  Accolades came thick and fast: the NME John Peel Award for Innovation in 2007, Kerrang! Awards (including Best Live Band), with sales of their debut now pushing 250,000 worldwide and frankly silly statistics, like the one about their single ‘Sorry, You’re Not A Winner’ having clocked up 6.3million plays on YouTube.

And so onto ‘Common Dreads’ then, an album whose politicised ‘people power’ beginnings were inspired by the band joining fellow St Albans’ residents to fight against Tesco when the supermarket chain unveiled plans to build a big new store on a green patch of land. “It was the first time we actively got involved in something like that,” smiles Rou. “And, collectively, we won.”  Musically, there are still twists of Refused’s screamo punk in there, but also the everyday colloquial man-in-the-street chats of The Streets’ Mike Skinner and nods towards The Prodigy, the most pumpin’ drum & bass, the most euphoric of trance, Altern-8 and even some of the darkest of dubstep too. More than anything though ‘Common Dreads’ is an album destined to unite the tribes, divide the critics and thoroughly satisfy anyone who has witnessed the mad live spectacle that is Enter Shikari.  “The main thing we stand for is unity,” concludes Rou. “Although it’s fair to say this is a political album, we’re aware that we don’t want to preach ideas – our only solution to today’s problems is to get together, share ideas and have fun. Because ultimately that’s the Enter Shikari way. You’re only young once, so positivity during dark times is as important to us as anything else.”  Get on it.

Despite a ten year career that saw brit-rockers InMe score a Kerrang! front cover, three top 40 singles and a number one album in the rock charts, the band have had just as many lows as they have had highs. 2006 was a dreadful year for the band, parting company with life-long friend and bassist Joe Morgan while guitarist and vocalist Dave McPherson had a series of personal problems that resulted in him losing his hair due to stress-related alopecia.

All of these factors, however, have allowed InMe to return to the fray stronger and with more conviction than ever before, using all of this personal pain to deliver an album that serves as a startling and cathartic release for the bands problems.