Converge

Since 1990 · United States

Converge formed in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1990 around singer Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou, and grew out of the Boston hardcore scene into something heavier and stranger. Their story

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Who they shaped

Nobody on the map lists them as an influence yet.

Behind them, left to right: Drive Like Jehu, NoMeansNo, The Cure, Black Flag.

The bigger the face, the stronger the proof: they said it themselvesreporteda critic, or widely accepted

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Jane Doe (2001)

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Jane Doe turns hardcore's speed and metal's weight on a breakup, Jacob Bannon screaming lyrics so personal they read like a diary. "Jane Doe", the eleven-minute closing title track, slows the onslaught to a crawl and lets it build into something almost mournful. Kurt Ballou's guitars are dense and dissonant, but every song has a shape you can follow. It's the record that made metallic hardcore something people treat as art.

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Converge

Jane Doe · 2001

Converge formed in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1990 around singer Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou, and grew out of the Boston hardcore scene into something heavier and stranger. Bannon has said the work ethic of early punk and hardcore, early Black Flag above all, is what the band modelled itself on.

Jane Doe (2001) made them the defining band of metallic hardcore, and they have kept recording and touring since, with Ballou producing much of the heavy underground at his GodCity studio and Bannon designing the band's art himself.