Fan Poll: Top 5 Converge Songs | Page 2 | Revolver

Fan Poll: Top 5 Converge Songs

See what beat "Aimless Arrow" and "Dark Horse" for No. 1
Converge Live 2016 Getty  PYMCA/Avalon/UIG via Getty Images), PYMCA/Avalon/UIG via Getty Images
Converge
photograph by PYMCA/Avalon/UIG via Getty Images

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Converge aren't an easy band to narrow down to one song. Throughout their 25-year career, the Salem, Massachussets, metalcore pioneers have grown from one of the most sonically destructive institutions in mosh music to all-things-heavy savants with a penchant for prog, post-metal and beyond.

Every Converge record essentially represents a distinct era of the band, so it wasn't a surprise to see that when we asked our readers to choose the single best Converge song, every corner of their catalog was well-represented. From the toothy savagery of their early days to the stunning craftsmanship of their recent material, the top five vote-getters are ranked accordingly below.

5. "The Saddest Day"

"The Saddest Sky" is a song from Converge's early days that hinted at their potential as metalcore auteurs. With a hulking seven-minute length, the first track on their crucial Petitioning the Empty Sky compilation is filled with pounding mosh parts and rousing gang chants that sound at least five years ahead of their time.

4. "Wretched World"

Axe to Fall is a polarizing record among Converge fans. With contributions from over a dozen guest musicians, the highly collaborative 2009 LP is a striking departure from their tried-and-true sound, and the album's heady post-metal closer, "Wretched World" — which features keyboard parts from members of cybergrind experts Genghis Tron — is one of its most progressive moments. It's not "Concubine," but it hits in a different way.

3. "Dark Horse"

The bookend to Axe to Fall's closer is its opener, "Dark Horse," which is progressive in a, well, proggy way. The two-and-a-half-minute track comes out the gate with Converge's pummeling speed and slide-tackling bite, but alongside Jacob Bannon's snarling vocals is a shreddy guitar lick that sounds like K.K. Downing doing fretboard sprints. Try and keep up.

2. "Aimless Arrow"

There are only a select few metalcore bands who've ever made a career-defining album two decades into a fruitful career, and Converge's 2012 masterpiece, All We Love We Leave Behind, is the foremost example. Opener "Aimless Arrow" sets the tone for what's to come — unrelenting power, subtle melodic precision, raw emotionality and some of the crispest production ever captured by a 'core band.

1. "The Broken Vow"

The most conventional and easy choice for Converge's best song is Jane Doe's feral intro track, so we were pleased to see that this slightly deeper cut from the band's 2001 opus made it to the top of this poll. "The Broken Vow" plays like a sonic mission statement for the band — piercing screams, tasteful cleans, twisted guitar licks, breakneck drumming and a brutal physicality that translates the act of moshing on a cliff side into sound. It's fucking amazing.