Review: Joshua Hobbins
Thirty-five years into their existence, Converge remain one of heavy music’s most vital forces. Few bands survive this long without softening their edges or retreating into legacy comfort, but Love Is Not Enough does neither. Instead, it stands as a fierce artistic statement on endurance, vulnerability, and controlled violence. This is Converge distilling their sound down to what matters most.
Opening title track Love Not Enough Arrives with the most traditional hardcore start the band has offered since Petitioning the Empty Sky, before everything detonates in classic fashion. Nate Newton’s bass immediately commands attention, sleazy, thick, and perfectly placed in the mix, setting the tone for a record where the rhythm section often carries the emotional gravity.
Bad Faith doubles down on toughness without relying on hyper-speed or mathy riffing. The band prove they don’t need frantic tempos to sound enormous, even flirting with a distinctly Mastodon-like weight before its crushing final chorus. That push-and-pull between groove and brutality continues on Distract and Divide, with Jacob Bannon sounding particularly vicious as chug-heavy passages collide with blast-driven urgency.
To Feel Something is one of the album’s emotional peaks. Claustrophobic and suffocating, it feels like a mind spiralling inward. Ben Koller’s drumming is as technical and nasty as ever, while Kurt Ballou’s production remains acerbic; raw without sacrificing clarity. When Bannon delivers “I just wanted to feel something,” it lands like a gut punch, exposing the vulnerability that still fuels Converge’s core.
The bleak instrumental Beyond Repair acts as an apocalyptic palate cleanser, industrial, gloomy, and end-of-the-world in tone, before Amon Amok arrives with confident swagger. Its opening minute leans into a rockier groove before descending into dirge-like heaviness, with Newton and Koller driving everything forward while Ballou and Bannon weave in and out overhead.
Force Meets Presence pushes further into the metal side of metalcore, pairing huge bass tone with double kicks, chugs, and shimmering guitar harmonies before ending on a satisfyingly hefty blegh. Then comes Gilded Cage, Newton’s bass powering the track while Ballou’s quieter, introspective guitars simmer beneath until everything coalesces into a towering crescendo. Its instrumental break wouldn’t feel out of place on a Russian Circles record, before the band drag it back into hostile territory.
Make Me Forget You might be the most melodic Converge have sounded since The Dusk in Us, but as Kurt Ballou explains, that isn’t new territory. “It’s something that’s always lived within the band. Echoes of that emotional openness can be traced back through songs like A Single Tear, Aimless Arrow, and Wishing Well,” and here it surfaces with renewed clarity. Driven by Koller’s impeccable dynamics and Ballou’s harmonic guitar lines, the track highlights Newton’s fluid bass runs and subtle backing vocals, while Jacob Bannon delivers one of his most intimate performances on the record. The gang vocals, “make me forget you”, also hit with earnest honesty rather than aggression.
Closer We Were Never the Same leans once again into Mastodon-esque heft, detouring through a gothic-feeling break before erupting into a balls-to-the-wall finale. Koller’s tom-heavy patterns lock perfectly with Newton’s rumbling low end while Ballou’s guitar lines snake overhead. Bannon sounds feral, barking through the chaos as the album collapses in on itself.
Speaking with Everblack, Ballou explained that this shift toward dynamics and atmosphere wasn’t calculated: “We want to make memorable songs and albums that can be listened to in their entirety. Dynamics are crucial to that.” That philosophy is evident throughout Love Is Not Enough. It’s an album built on contrast, groove and violence, melody and abrasion, vulnerability and rage.
Early call: Love Is Not Enough is already a contender for my top five albums of the year. Thirty-five years in, Converge are still showing everyone how it’s done; no nonsense, no shortcuts, just hard-earned evolution from a band that refuses to stand still.
Love Is Not Enough is out Feb 13 via Epitaph Records / Deathwish Records.
Pre Order – here
