Quick review: Converge

On a short, light note, Gary (our in-house phone app photographer) and I went to see Converge at SO36 the other day. It had been around 17 years since I last saw them play and we felt, since they have been mentioned a couple of times in the press this year, that we should check them out. 

Well, we came away a little disappointed. Given the recent hype surrounding the band we expected great things. Instead, we time-travelled to 1996. It may as well have been Snapcase or Battery on that stage. Don't get me wrong - I liked all three of those bands in 1996, I actually did, in particular Battery. But I truly feel that that sound and look is a little dated, really dated actually. It's a fun trip down memory lane - everyone there looked like back then, with self-applied anti-McDonalds and vegan patches, with baseball caps and band shirts - but we really don't feel that it holds up with the dynamic noise music scene these days.  

The band performed like those ol' HC bands do and the crowd was a little stiff but enjoyed themselves, the die-hard fans pleased. So it was fine, it wasn't a bad gig at all. Five songs in, however, we felt we had seen what was to be seen, and we moved on to Festsaal and Mission of Burma. And that is another story.