Track Premiere: Converge – “Coil”

Photo by Emily Birds

We couldn’t be more stoked (and trust us, that’s an understatement) about the latest from Converge, Bloodmoon: 1, out November 19 via Epitaph Records. The fact that the band is collabing with Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm, and a laundry list of other musical greats has us routinely screaming into a pillow with joy, waiting for the record to drop.

If you’re like us, and you can’t wait any longer, check out the little slice of heaven that is “Coil” to tide you over.

“’Coil’ turned out to be one of my favorite songs I’ve ever been a part of,” says vocalist Jacob Bannon. ‘There is an infectious, slow build that ends up becoming theatrical in tone. Lyrically, it was a true collaboration, with all of us expanding on each other’s ideas as they came to be. I believe Chelsea’s vocal was the starting point in that for this one. Kurt really pushed vocal harmonies to a new level as well. Encouraging many of Steve’s ideas while we were in the studio tracking together. This one really has every one of us firing on all cylinders creatively.”

If you hadn’t already gathered, this is not going to be your usual—albeit great—Converge album. While the band have always strayed from the confines of hardcore and metal to bring us something more experimental and unique, they really go all out with the collaborations, psychedelic undertones, and musical range on this record.

“We wanted to do something grander than the typical four-piece Converge music,” Bannon says of the project. “I’ve been a fan of Chelsea and Ben’s work for some time. I bought the Apokalypsis record from Aquarius Records in San Francisco, and Ben and I started communicating here and there. He had roots in this world of music, so it started to make sense that we could all work together in some way.”

Thrilling in its apocalyptic grandeur, Bloodmoon: I is a collaborative work in every way—to the point that Wolfe, Bannon, and collaborator and Cave In vocalist/guitarist Steve Brodsky found themselves writing lyrics for each other.

“That’s one of the keys to the album,” Ballou points out. “Sometimes when there’s a collaborative group, it just sounds like such-and-such a person doing the thing they do in their band while the other people are doing the things they do in their bands. So for Jake to write lyrics for Chelsea or for Chelsea to write lyrics for Steve, it forces each person to approach the vocals in a way that’s unique to the project.”

What we have on our hands with Bloodmoon: I and “Coil” is the best possible thing that could have come out of our fucked-up timeline and COVID—a record that brings collaboration to the table and puts egos aside, blessing (or cursing) us with some of the best music to come out this year, or maybe this decade.

Pre-order Bloodmoon: I and get merch here.