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Axe to Fall
Axe to Fall is the seventh studio album by American metalcore band Converge, released on October 19, 2009, by Epitaph Records. It is the band's most collaborative album, featuring a number of guest musicians, including members of Cave In and Genghis Tron and Steve Von Till of Neurosis, who performs lead vocals on the slow, Tom Waits-esque track "Cruel Bloom". The album was produced by guitarist Kurt Ballou, and the artwork was created by vocalist Jacob Bannon.
Axe to Fall peaked at number 74 on the Billboard 200, and was well received by critics, who generally described it as their most accessible work.
"For a very long time, we've wanted to do a collaboration album where we could include people we're close with or friends with and who we gel with musically and socially. Now, we did that and it's pretty seamless. [Axe to Fall] doesn't feel like a big rock record where the guest vocalists come out and a spotlight is being thrown on them. It's much more involved than that. It's much more refined."
Converge began writing Axe to Fall in November 2008. With Jacob Bannon, Kurt Ballou and Nate Newton all living within a half a mile of each other in Boston and Ben Koller living a couple hours away in Brooklyn, the band could easily practice for weeks at a time. Though most songs originated from a guitar or bass riff from Ballou or Newton, all members had equal input on the writing process, with each member proposing different songs. Bannon wrote a few songs for Axe to Fall, but they were scrapped because they were slower than the rest and did not fit the energy of the album.
Following a short tour in March 2009 with Ceremony, Coliseum, Pulling Teeth, Rise and Fall, Converge entered the studio to begin recording in May 2009. The band had debuted some new material live during the tour. As with several of their previous albums, Axe to Fall was produced by guitarist Kurt Ballou at his GodCity Studio in Massachusetts. Throughout the recording process, the band updated their fans via Twitter of their progress in the studio.
During recording, Converge tried to challenge themselves creatively as artists. Ballou stated that with each new Converge album, he "always [wants] to create a new listening-experience", and continued with the concept of "pushing [themselves] forward and not repeating [themselves]". Bannon stated, "We appreciate our past albums, but we're very much about forward movement and challenging ourselves musically and expressing ourselves emotionally". Bannon has stated that he felt that the main artistic difference between Axe to Fall and previous albums was the large number of guest musicians, which included various members from Cave In, Neurosis, and Genghis Tron, among others. Most of the guest-musicians already had an existing relationship with one or more Converge members prior to recording or the band had "admired in some way". Converge had previously thought of the idea of creating a collaborative album with many guest artists for some years, but felt that the "time to execute it [had] never been there". Bannon stated that working with a number of different artists was difficult and something that the band was not used to, but the finished product was "an extremely focused album".
Though writing did not officially begin until November 2008, work on some songs from Axe to Fall began four to five years earlier. In 2004, Converge collaborated with Cave in and recorded some songs together. Dubbed the "Verge In" sessions, the material from this period was never released, and the project later dissolved. The instrumental parts that Cave in contributed to the track "Effigy" were from the original recordings in 2004. Converge took the parts they contributed to the project to create the foundation for what would become "Cruel Bloom" and "Wretched World". While producing their album Board Up the House, Ballou gave Genghis Tron a rough mix of "Wretched World" to contribute their talents. According to Ballou, Genghis Tron "embellished it and created a whole new melodic structure on top of the song that we would've never come up with". Brad Fickeisen from the Red Chord also later added his own drum track to "Wretched World". Much of the song "Plagues" from No Heroes also originated from the "Verge In" sessions. With the release of Axe to Fall, everything Converge contributed to the sessions was finally released in some form.
"Anytime anybody writes a song, that's one less thing that you can do and still be original. You can't come along and write "Iron Man" today. All the heavy riffs that are that simple are already taken. So, you've gotta find new riffs, and as more of those become taken, there's fewer places to go."
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Axe to Fall
Axe to Fall is the seventh studio album by American metalcore band Converge, released on October 19, 2009, by Epitaph Records. It is the band's most collaborative album, featuring a number of guest musicians, including members of Cave In and Genghis Tron and Steve Von Till of Neurosis, who performs lead vocals on the slow, Tom Waits-esque track "Cruel Bloom". The album was produced by guitarist Kurt Ballou, and the artwork was created by vocalist Jacob Bannon.
Axe to Fall peaked at number 74 on the Billboard 200, and was well received by critics, who generally described it as their most accessible work.
"For a very long time, we've wanted to do a collaboration album where we could include people we're close with or friends with and who we gel with musically and socially. Now, we did that and it's pretty seamless. [Axe to Fall] doesn't feel like a big rock record where the guest vocalists come out and a spotlight is being thrown on them. It's much more involved than that. It's much more refined."
Converge began writing Axe to Fall in November 2008. With Jacob Bannon, Kurt Ballou and Nate Newton all living within a half a mile of each other in Boston and Ben Koller living a couple hours away in Brooklyn, the band could easily practice for weeks at a time. Though most songs originated from a guitar or bass riff from Ballou or Newton, all members had equal input on the writing process, with each member proposing different songs. Bannon wrote a few songs for Axe to Fall, but they were scrapped because they were slower than the rest and did not fit the energy of the album.
Following a short tour in March 2009 with Ceremony, Coliseum, Pulling Teeth, Rise and Fall, Converge entered the studio to begin recording in May 2009. The band had debuted some new material live during the tour. As with several of their previous albums, Axe to Fall was produced by guitarist Kurt Ballou at his GodCity Studio in Massachusetts. Throughout the recording process, the band updated their fans via Twitter of their progress in the studio.
During recording, Converge tried to challenge themselves creatively as artists. Ballou stated that with each new Converge album, he "always [wants] to create a new listening-experience", and continued with the concept of "pushing [themselves] forward and not repeating [themselves]". Bannon stated, "We appreciate our past albums, but we're very much about forward movement and challenging ourselves musically and expressing ourselves emotionally". Bannon has stated that he felt that the main artistic difference between Axe to Fall and previous albums was the large number of guest musicians, which included various members from Cave In, Neurosis, and Genghis Tron, among others. Most of the guest-musicians already had an existing relationship with one or more Converge members prior to recording or the band had "admired in some way". Converge had previously thought of the idea of creating a collaborative album with many guest artists for some years, but felt that the "time to execute it [had] never been there". Bannon stated that working with a number of different artists was difficult and something that the band was not used to, but the finished product was "an extremely focused album".
Though writing did not officially begin until November 2008, work on some songs from Axe to Fall began four to five years earlier. In 2004, Converge collaborated with Cave in and recorded some songs together. Dubbed the "Verge In" sessions, the material from this period was never released, and the project later dissolved. The instrumental parts that Cave in contributed to the track "Effigy" were from the original recordings in 2004. Converge took the parts they contributed to the project to create the foundation for what would become "Cruel Bloom" and "Wretched World". While producing their album Board Up the House, Ballou gave Genghis Tron a rough mix of "Wretched World" to contribute their talents. According to Ballou, Genghis Tron "embellished it and created a whole new melodic structure on top of the song that we would've never come up with". Brad Fickeisen from the Red Chord also later added his own drum track to "Wretched World". Much of the song "Plagues" from No Heroes also originated from the "Verge In" sessions. With the release of Axe to Fall, everything Converge contributed to the sessions was finally released in some form.
"Anytime anybody writes a song, that's one less thing that you can do and still be original. You can't come along and write "Iron Man" today. All the heavy riffs that are that simple are already taken. So, you've gotta find new riffs, and as more of those become taken, there's fewer places to go."