Music

Interview: Salem metalcore vets Converge send home the guests for an explosive new album

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Converge: All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph, 10/9/12)

“Sadness Comes Home”

Converge: “Sadness Comes Home”

Being one of the most consistently devastating and innovative hardcore bands on the planet doesn’t come easy. In fact, it requires countless hours of hard work, a highly disciplined work ethic, and a level of stamina that even the youngest punks in the game can’t always muster.

For nearly 20 years, Salem, Massachusetts-based metalcore titan Converge has continually pushed its intense sound to new and progressively head-spinning extremes, hammering out 90-second explosions of speed and energy on one track, while delving into a gut-wrenching mixture of emotion and melody the next. Though expectations are best left wide open when approaching a new album from the group, two things remain constant: it’ll never be half-assed, and it most certainly won’t be boring.

Resurrecting a MHz Legacy: RJD2 and Tage Future chase inspiration in “Out of Room”

MHz Legacy: s/tMHz Legacy: MHz Legacy (Man Bites Dog, 10/30/12)

MHz was a Columbus, Ohio, hip-hop collective made up of RJD2, Jakki da Motamouth, the late Camu Tao, Tage Future (née Proto), and Copywrite. After the release of Table Scraps in 2001, another record was long rumored but never seemed to come. The 2008 death of Tao seemed to put an end to the idea.

However, last year the group reunited and rebranded as MHz Legacy to release an eponymous debut album to much acclaim. Featuring all the other original members, and guest spots from Slug, Danny Brown, Ill Bill, and more, it proved that the group had more to say.