I am certain that Blood Moon I will push the limits of disbelief for many veteran Converge fans, but it’s a development in their sound that’s been a long time coming, and that it has finally been realized here masterfully.
Bar a brief blast of Converge's signature chaos on Viscera of Men, Bloodmoon: I has otherwise pushed the band out of their comfort zone with only Wolfe and Brodsky's voices to guide them through the dark.
The band’s long-awaited collaboration with dark rocker Wolfe is slower and more melodic than their usual albums, yet even heavier.
Does Bloodmoon: I sound much like Converge? Only occasionally. Could it be their best album to date nevertheless? Quite possibly.
In its expanded melodic vocabulary, the record makes a fresh case for the band’s continued dominance of the extreme-music landscape.
At 11 songs, the album’s rich soundscapes never become overstuffed or self-indulgent, instead remaining lush, cinematic, and apocalyptically grand.
Even at its most melodic ... Bloodmoon: I bristles with nervy unease. That particular brand of agitation is textbook Converge, but with Brodsky's inventive arrangements and Wolfe's ethereal soprano added to the arsenal, that innate disquiet is glorious to behold.
Actually spinning the record reveals harrowing atmospherics, a sense of grandiosity, devastating emotional weight and wrenching mood swings all woven around a diverse stanchion of extreme music via melodic breadth, avant-garde edging and fearless experimentation.
A chest-tighteningly exciting and thoroughly atypical piece of work from a band who have not just redefined themselves, but also the entire heavy metal landscape. Again.
Bloodmoon: I ... is the act’s most immersive, cohesive collaboration yet.
Bloodmoon I is a pretty solid collab, and hopefully the title hints that the best is yet to come.
There is certainly potential here, but this first Bloodmoon record definitely feels like a testing ground.
After 30 years together, the hardcore dynamos hit a nadir. Their collaborative album with Chelsea Wolfe and Stephen Brodsky is exhausting and predictable, a ceaseless barrage of the banal.
So...I need a few more listens before I settle on a final rating, but a 90% is extremely valid for a low score I'd give this. By far this is the most dynamic work from Converge I've heard and it shows a clear band evolution.
Converge mix their older style of metalcore with gothic metal, doom metal, and sludge metal through this massive collaboration with Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm, and Stephen Brodsky. It's balanced extremely well with its many ideas, especially because there's a lot of ... read more
Track 3 ‘Coil’ is the first song that I like which trades in musical savagery for melody and lively moments of performance, I really had trouble finding a way into this collaboration and it wasn’t until track 4’s
‘Flower Moon’ that seems to start off midway through a funky jam and drifts into a twisted bassy existence like something from vintage Soundgarden or Alice In Chains with lively drums hitting a little left on centre that I’m convinced to ... read more
Oh my god, I'm speechless this was so good. I don't even know what to say, every single musical passage here is the exact stuff that I love from darker metal projects and Converge and Chelsea work together perfectly. I don't think I will hear another collab album as good as this one for the rest of my life
Favorite Track: Coil
Least Favorite Track: None
Blood Moon- 8
Viscera of Men- 9
Coil- 8
Flower Moon- 9
Tongues Playing Dead- 8
Lord of Liars- 7
Failure Forever- 7
Scorpion's Sting- 8
Daimon- 8
Crimson Stone- 7
Blood Dawn- 8
this could have been just about my favorite album in converge's discography thus far but in the end i felt it went on just a little long and lacked as many memorable standalone tracks. but wow, i absolutely adore the sound they went for here, it's one of a kind.
1 | Blood Moon 7:50 | 91 |
2 | Viscera of Men 5:29 | 87 |
3 | Coil 6:08 | 88 |
4 | Flower Moon 4:38 | 82 |
5 | Tongues Playing Dead 4:12 | 81 |
6 | Lord of Liars 3:21 | 83 |
7 | Failure Forever 4:02 | 74 |
8 | Scorpion's Sting 5:48 | 79 |
9 | Daimon 6:59 | 77 |
10 | Crimson Stone 6:47 | 82 |
11 | Blood Dawn 3:30 | 82 |
#5 | / | Sputnikmusic |
#6 | / | Revolver |
#7 | / | Decibel |
#10 | / | Kerrang! |
#23 | / | MondoSonoro |
#43 | / | Treble |
#88 | / | The Quietus |
/ | AllMusic |