(Epitaph)The band’s long-awaited collaboration with dark rocker Wolfe is slower and more melodic than their usual albums, yet even heavier
![Converge & Chelsea Wolfe: Bloodmoon: I review – an explosive combination](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6a3ae70247d6fa983530e3999f150a8bd65ca82c/0_530_7952_4774/master/7952.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctcmV2aWV3LTUucG5n&enable=upscale&s=eb9598bbe5af994f518c7ff4994a6574)
Bloodmoon: I commences with the sound of piano notes and a distorted croon from frontman Jacob Bannon. Instantly, it’s in a different hemisphere from anything else Converge have done. After all, this is the rabble whose defining statement is Jane Doe: an attack that, 20 years after its release, remains the nastiest metalcore album ever. Bannon screamed so hard on it that you could hear the microphone struggling; Kurt Ballou’s guitars rang with tortured squeals and the rhythm section thrashed faster than a machine gun.
Now, on their long-awaited collaboration with dark rocker
Chelsea Wolfe (plus her writing partner Ben Chisolm and Cave In’s Stephen Brodsky), Converge’s rampage deadens to a crawl, sacrificing speed for a slower and more melodic, yet heavier battering. Opener Blood
moon captivates as Bannon and Wolfe exchange verses to hypnotic effect, the gentleness serving to amplify the
explosion of post-metal that follows.