Axe To Fall
by Converge
  • Record Label: Epitaph
  • Release Date: Oct 20, 2009
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. AllMusic
    90
    It's the core group that delivers the most astonishing displays of hardcore fury and progressive musical exploration on Axe to Fall
  2. Pitchfork
    85
    A huge array of guests help out, representing acts like Disfear, 108, Genghis Tron, and Neurosis. They are too many to list, but the bottom line is, they work. Whether they're yelling, singing, or laying down leads, they fit their songs. And that in itself is fitting.
  3. PopMatters
    90
    The closest Converge has ever come to pure doom metal, Ballou’s sustained chords, bent strings, and screeching lead fills are anchored by Newton’s and Koller’s disciplined approach, the chemistry more than apparent during the Big Black-esque break, during which all four members, well, converge in a way that has the rest of us marveling at not only how these guys manage to still sound so fresh on record, but actually get better with each one they put out.
  5. Drowned In Sound
    80
    Axe To Fall makes good with an appetite for reinvention.
  6. Alternative Press
    70
    Sure the plot has been done to death and you know what's going to happen; but the personalities involved draw you in like a rubbernecker gawking at a highway accident fromth safety of his car. [Nov 2009, p.105]
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  7. NOW Magazine
    80
    Converge create art-school hardcore while still delivering on metal’s basest needs.

Awards & Rankings

91
#91 Most Shared Album of 2009

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 56 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 49 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 56
  3. Negative: 3 out of 56
  1. Zammy
    Sep 25, 2011
    10
    This is the greatest album I have heard of Converge and it is the greatest thing I heard in 2009. It is raw and technical at the same time.This is the greatest album I have heard of Converge and it is the greatest thing I heard in 2009. It is raw and technical at the same time. Emotional and apocalyptic. There are few band that can create such a powerful and heavy masterpiece. Almost no double bass and blast drumming, yet the album is like bulldozer.… Full Review »
  2. MartinN
    Oct 29, 2009
    10
    Certain sites (cough cough Sputnikmusic! cough cough) like to ruin great bands overall scores on this site -- as they did to mastodon's Certain sites (cough cough Sputnikmusic! cough cough) like to ruin great bands overall scores on this site -- as they did to mastodon's new record, calling it "poor". silly silly, i say. it really is a shame that these critics seem to get off on saying bad things about great bands in a time when real art-as-music is few and far between. i wish i could somehow "throw out" their reviews and have someone with a bit more empathy and passion write one that would do them justice. rock is in its death-throws for quite some time now. we should all learn to appreciate these late masterpieces and gems that have been released since the mid-90's which may in factl diminish over the next decade (sadly... all styles have eventually become somewhat exhausted over a long enough time-line, i.e. the jazz/blues etc. styles, just as 17th century baroque/rococo styles became old-hat, and 19th century romanticism exhausted various forms, including the sonata, which many had consider the "jewel" of western music, however timeless) ...and what will come out of the ashes of "rock"? the answer is hidden somewhere in the greatness of groups like converge (or the flaming lips, or radiohead, or even the mars volta, to name a few)... it's hard to put your finger on a "new" sound or style before it has been codified or clearly defined. something's coming, fellow music lovers. i can't wait to hear what it is... all rock styles have begun to CONVERGE (hehe) in a no-holds-barred and overt manner, so perhaps we shouldn't be using ultra-specific genre-labeling in a genre that is built on a foundation that was already a hybrid. i call it "mutt music". 10 out of 10 for this group of talented musicians and sonic-bloodbath enthusiasts for forging ahead in a genre (rock, broadly) with so much at stake according to those with enough intuition to look to the future and ask, "what's next?"… Full Review »
  3. JonathanD
    Oct 27, 2009
    10
    I have a question: Why aren't metal or punk publications ever cited at metacritic? They're the ones who would know most of all how I have a question: Why aren't metal or punk publications ever cited at metacritic? They're the ones who would know most of all how FANTASTIC this record is! Converge is the band of the decade. Everything from Jane Doe till Axe to Fall has been nothing short of stellar. My highest recommendation for the progressive listener with an openness to hear something aggressive and powerful.… Full Review »
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