Converge released their fourth album, Jane Doe, through Equal Vision on 4 September 2001. It brought Nate Newton on bass and Ben Koller on drums together with Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou, establishing the core lineup for the years ahead.
Concubine kicks the door open
Concubine kicks the door open. Fault and Fracture follows with riffs that are precise and completely feral at the same time. Later, there's room for slower dread and melody before the title track stretches the ending out until it feels consuming.
That Face On The Cover
Jacob Bannon created the artwork, including the unidentified face that became one of underground heavy music's most recognisable images. It isn't a confirmed portrait of one person, which leaves room for listeners to bring their own associations of loss and memory to it.
What other bands heard in it
Heavy bands picked up on the dissonance, while post-hardcore and screamo listeners connected with the raw emotion. Ballou's later production work carried aspects of that sound into hundreds of other records. Jane Doe could be adventurous and vicious while still feeling deeply personal.
The album gets praised so often that it's easy to forget to just put it on. Do that, and the detail becomes clear again. It's exhausting, but it never feels careless.
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