4 out of 5

Label: Equal Vision

Produced by: Brian Mcternan, Mike West

It starts stronger than it finishes, but it’s freaking Converge: even when they manage an average track, it generally out-muscles 99% of their peers.

Petitioning the Empty Sky is sorta kinda a re-presentation of an early same-named EP with bonus tracks.  The first five songs are from that session, there are a few tracks from a later session – which are interestingly more generic and lack Brian Mcternan’s richer production – and then some live tracks, which are proof positive of Converge’s ability to effect this mathcore stuff full throttle without a studio.  Because of the compilation nature of things, the album doesn’t necessarily hang together super well after the EP’s tracks, but once you’re aware of the patched-together sources, this is much more acceptable.  And considering how many years have passed since those opening songs were recorded – also considering the group’s continued ability to dominate and innovate in their genre – they are mindblowingly polished and complex, wending through virtuoso instrumentation, headbanging chugga chugga riffs and Bannon’s vocal confidence, pitting his whiny singing voice up against his characteristic howls.  The track from the earlier sessions, new to this collection – Shingles – is particularly epic and stylistically sprawling in the best of ways.

The Mike West-recorded tracks that follow are sorta cut and dry hardcore, for what that’s worth, but again: there’s no dip in passion.  The live track selection is fascinating for not skimping on the complexity and for its fidelity – you can’t 100% ascertain that these are live (for the most part), and the polish could pass for studio tracks from a lot of bands.

The version of Petitioning I have (multiple versions with differing tracks have been released) ends on the live Homesong, which, some amusing opening banter aside, isn’t the best closer, lacking a sense of finality except that it’s sorta slower than the other songs, but we shrug and say ‘compilation’ and then flip back to some other tracks to rock out.