The Power & The Glory Call Me Armageddon

When Converge's newest full-length came out, a lot of people seemed to love it, while others were disappointed for some reason or another. If you were one of the latter types, and you missed the flagrant aggression and power of Jane Doe, The Power and The Glory (formerly known as Downpour; check out their 2001 release on Alveran/Eulogy for a look at the band's past incarnation, which is well worth it) and their full-length Call Me Armegeddon are probably right for you. I feel that this album is a little narrow in scope, but it makes up for it in noise. I mean, this is pure noise, with no way around it. There's this picture on the Deathwish website under the band's specific page, and it pretty much sums up the band. It's just a picture of vocalist Ezra Morris completely red in the face, screaming himself to death. And with only one guitarist, one bassist, and one drummer behind him, I'm assuming their all doing the same thing he is: playing their hearts out. This is pretty evident after listening to the album as a whole, since there is only one song ("High Winds & Heavy Seas") stuck in the middle as a sort of break in between acts that slows down the pace enough for the listener to catch their breath, but the rest is just an onslaught of metal and noise. The band's bio says that they "walk the fine line between the worlds of crust punk, contemporary metal, and hardcore," and I think that's pretty on-target. This album is pretty memorable, as much as any work of this caliber can be. I can't say that it's incredible, but it's a testament as to how much force can come out of something that seems so random. The lyrics are excellent and provide a great catalyst to the music, and Kurt Ballou's production work on this is obviously reminiscent of much of Converge's past few releases. Bottom Line: The Power and The Glory seem to bring out what everyone liked best in Converge's Jane Doe: pure chaos. Call Me Armageddon is a deadly assault on all accounts, though hopefully the band will push the envelope in future releases.