Poison the Well, Converge, and The Barbarians of California

Vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou formed the group in Salem, Massachusetts, US in 1990. They shared a common interest in hardcore punk and heavy metal, sighting influences such as American Punk bands like Black Flag, Dischord alumni such as Minor Threat and Nation of Ulysses, an array of metal bands ranging from thrash lords Slayer to sludge rock originators Black Sabbath. The group even incorporated sounds from less obvious inspirations like The Cure and Depeche Mode. Despite the huge list of influences Converge manage to construct a sound entirely their own and have been cited a countless number of times as one of the defining factors of the metalcore genre as well as one of the most innovative bands to come out of the underground punk movement.

Converge started as a band whose sound was strongly rooted in hardcore punk and Slayer theme riffs. They were quick to hone their focus and by 1991 they were cutting demos on a 4-track recorder and playing live concerts. The group released a total of four demos before putting out their first feature length album “Halo in a Haystack”. This release came out in 1994 through the label Earthmaker and was funded by Jacob Bannon’s job as an assistant at a nursing home. The band put out the EP “Unloved and Weeded Out” and the compilation album “Caring and Killing” the following year. In 1996 they put out their sophomore release “Petitioning the Sky” through Ferret records. Although this record is often categorized as a feature length album, the band views this as a compilation album, considering many of the tracks were recorded at different times with a few of them being live recordings.

Converge switched labels for their next two feature lengths 1998’s “When Forever Comes” and 2001’s “Jane Doe” both released through Equal Vision. Though neither of the two albums managed to chart, they were regarded as classics of their genre and were met with instant critical acclaim. “Jane Doe” in particular was seen as a breakthrough in the band’s career launching them outside of their niche bubble into a larger cult following. The album artwork that lead singer Bannon designed for the album was met with unanimous praise and became somewhat of an iconic image for the band. This release was the first to feature the line up of the four sole members Jacob Bannon, Kurt Ballou, Nate Newton, and Ben Koller. This line up has continued to persist throughout the band’s following recordings. Around this time the band played nearly 600 gigs, building a strong reputation for themselves in the punk community worldwide.

Converge seemed to be on a role after the release of “Jane Doe”. They never lost touch with their favor from the critics and with each succeeding album they were able to chart commercially. The band later signed on to Epitaph Records and released their 2004 album “You Fail Me” through the label. They also put out their 2006 release “No Heroes”, their 2009 release “Axe to Fall”, and their 2012 release “All We Love We Leave Behind” through this label. The album “No Heroes” was one of their most commercially successful releases peaking at No. 1 on the US Heatseekers Chart and No. 151 on the US charts. Though “All We Love We Leave Behind” did not make it on the Heatseekers charts, it did make it to No. 70 on the US Billboard 200 Chart. The album also has the extremely high score of 88 on “metacritic”, indicating universal acclaim.