Converge: Love Is Not Enough

"But they have always focused their aggression on heightening empathy rather than rejecting it. Their 2001 breakout, Jane Doe, is still one of the nastiest sounding albums ever recorded, and it's tempting to pit that sound against the heartfelt lyrics. But, as is most evident on "Heaven in Her Arms," that roiling tumult mirrors the internal rollercoaster that comes with emotional bloodletting:"

"It's been nine years since the last proper Converge album, and in the interim, the band linked up with doom-folk singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe for 2021's meandering, ostentatious, and uneven collaboration, Bloodmoon: I. It might be shocking to hear Converge open their latest with four lean, brutal barn-burners-reflecting the "no frills, no BS" mission offered by frontman Jacob Bannon in a recent interview -but the album eventually concludes with a suite of longer, more methodical tracks."

"Human connection has always been the motivating force in Bannon's lyrics, and his approach tends to be hyper-personal while still opaque enough to invite interpretation. He usually operates in first-person, and it rarely seems like he's invoking perspectives other than his own, but his lack of specificity almost always spurns proper nouns. He continues to keep things vague on Love Is Not Enough, an album that splits its focus"

Converge released their eleventh album Love Is Not Enough, arriving 36 years after the band's formation and marking the band's second title with "love" and eleventh to include "love" in lyrics. The band built a reputation by taking hardcore and making it knotty, abrasive, and emotionally intense while directing aggression toward heightening empathy. The 2001 breakout Jane Doe remains a famously nasty-sounding record that pairs violent sonics with heartfelt lyricism. The new album opens with four lean, brutal barn-burners before concluding with a suite of longer, more methodical tracks. Jacob Bannon's lyrics prioritize human connection, often hyper-personal, first-person, and purposely vague without proper nouns.

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