Country of origin: United States
Location: Salem, Massachusetts
Status: Active
Formed in: 1990

Genre: Hardcore Punk, Mathcore, Metalcore
Current label: Epitaph, Deathwish Inc.
Years active: 1990-present

History:

Converge was formed in the winter of 1990 by Jacob Bannon and Kurt Ballou. They started by playing covers of hardcore punk, punk rock and heavy metal songs. The band soon graduated to playing live performances in 1991, after recording some demos on a 4-track recorder and eventually releasing full lengths including When Forever Comes Crashing and splits with bands like Agoraphobic Nosebleed.

In recent years, Converge have enjoyed relatively high levels of popularity. Their popularity began to rise with the release of their breakthrough album, Jane Doe, the album that was named the number 1 album on Sputnikmusic's "Top 100 Albums of the Decade". During the recording of Jane Doe, longtime member Aaron Dalbec, who was also handling his then-side project Bane, was asked to leave the group. This resulted in a four man line-up that is still intact today.

Their records have gradually become more expensively and extensively produced, having moved from the independent label Equal Vision Records to the much larger independent punk label Epitaph Records while handling special releases on Bannon's record label, Deathwish Inc.

Converge released Axe to Fall on October 20, 2009. The album was very well-received, with Decibel Magazine hailing it as the band's best work since Jane Doe and scoring it 10/10. Pitchfork gave the album a rating of 8.5/10 and hailed Converge as "this generation's Black Flag." Jane Doe was inducted into the Rock Sound's Hall of Fame.

On January 1, 2012, Converge announced that they had completed writing for their eighth studio album, titled All We Love We Leave Behind. The following day, Kurt Ballou announced plans via his Facebook page to begin recording with the band in January 2012. The album was released on October 19, 2012 to widespread praise, currently holding an aggregate score of 88 on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim."

Current members:

Jacob Bannon – lead vocals, lyrics, visuals (1990–present)
Kurt Ballou – guitar, vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, theremin (1990–present)
Nate Newton – bass guitar, vocals (1999–present)
Ben Koller – drums (1999–present)