Origin: Salem, MA and Sacramento, CA
Release date: 11/19/2021
Personnel: Jacob Bannon-vox, Chelsea Wolfe-vox/guitar, Kurt Ballou-guitar, Nate Newton-bass, Stephen Brodsky-bass/vox, Ben Chisholm-synths/keyboards, Ben Koller-drums
Seems like there is always some sort of collaboration or side project that makes it onto the list each year. This year Converge, Chelsea Wolfe, Stephen Brodsky of Cave In/Mutoid Man and Ben Chisholm have put together the collaboration album Bloodmoon: I. While it appears as a formal Converge release, it is unlike anything Converge has done before. There are a couple of traditional caustic hardcore Converge tracks on here, but on the whole this one feels a lot of the gothic influence of Wolfe and the pop punk influence of Brodsky’s work in Cave In. Hell, it feels like all of these people populate and influence each other’s main gigs as it is anyway. So, the final product here can’t be too much of a shock for traditional Converge fans. This one is a dark and moody journey and with the moniker “I” in the Bloodmoon title, I’m guessing that we will probably see another release by these folks.
4 flip flops out of 5
The list so far:
15. Converge & Chelsea Wolfe-Bloodmoon: I
16. At The Gates-The Nightmare of Being
17. The Vintage Caravan-Monuments
18. Nervosa-Perpetual Chaos
19. Baest-Necro Sapiens
20. Agrypnie-Metamorphosis
DISPATCHES FROM THE VOID 