Review Summary: And the award for the best album by the band Converge that isn’t actually an album by the band Converge goes to…
Don’t let the 2013 release date fool you: this sludge-y stew of French metalcore comes not from the modern mainstream era of pristine, pampered chuggery but, rather, direct from the pages of the genre’s golden years. Look no further than the preposterous percussive somersaulting of album keystone “Simulacre”, a heaving-sweaty-basement-full-of-elbows type track, bulging with bass-forward beatdowns and mathematical metallic mashing. It plays out not as a coherent piece of music, but as if each 10 second segment is striving to outdo the last across every conceivable metric of
heavy. This tantalizingly chaotic approach to songcraft is prevalent throughout the remainder of this live-tracked,
Birds in Row produced, bulldozer of an LP: see too the frantic, seismic reverberations of “Equarrissage”, collapsing into the bleak, bludgeoned thumping of “Atra Bilis” and “Aux Porcs” (think
Petitioning the Empty Sky, baked with extra crust (punk) and pensive blackened trimmings). Things are eventually reigned-in just before the bloodbath becomes too sticky, with the densely atmospheric “Curatelle” cleaning up shop in time for the truly monstrous closer of “Meurtrieres” to tear it all back down again.
Beyond the obvious and boring (but v. accurate) comparisons,
Forceps justifies (nay, deserves!) your immediate and undivided attention because of the pure fucking hellfire encased within its 10 nuggets of blistering brimstone. Reference points are easily drawn - with frontman Jungbluth’s infallible Bannon impression making it all the easier to do so - yet the credit ought not be lain with the bands that the 4-piece pay homage to, but the conviction and energy with which they see it done. Through a fervent, desperate,
real performance, Calvaiire carve their own path. Here’s to hoping others follow it.
