That album shellacked Converge’s status as cult gods it was immediately a touchstone for the hardcore-punk community. Album after album over the past 15 years has found the band red-lining various critical meters - 10 stars, six skulls, eight guitars, whatever - with its champions escalating in number since the release of its breakthrough, Jane Doe. The only way in which it might be considered dull is in the consistency of its critical acclaim. This approach has borne some dark and spectacular fruit for Converge. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.” (This is what John Darnielle means when he says that metal-core “craves marginalization.”) If a punk kid hears our band now, he’s used to big singing choruses, pop punk, emotional rock, we’re way too off-putting we’re vocally way too harsh. If somebody’s used to contemporary metal records they hear a band like us, it’s just a big load of trashy noise. We’re a very abrasive band, very harsh band, a very polarizing band.

In Bannon’s own words, “We’re not an easy band to get into. None of these will fit neatly on Converge.

Not content to be just fast, brutal, and dark, Converge has consistently, and successfully, pushed every boundary in any category you wish to place it: hardcore, metal, thrash, punk. The band’s music is, of course, challenging. Ease is a dirty word in Converge’s universe. In fact, “challenge” seems to be his favorite word it crops up again and again-how Converge seeks them out, how the band provides them, and how we need them as human beings. Jacob Bannon, lead singer and founding member of Converge, is a man who likes a challenge.

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