Converge is currently working on its ninth studio album, and Noisey got a hold of frontman Jacob Bannon to discuss the band's discography. We've already seen rankings from members of Korn, Slipknot, Killswitch Engage, Carcass and Between the Buried and Me of their discographies, and it's interesting the approach Bannon takes.
Bannon ranks Converge's albums from his least favorite to most favorite, and managed to pick them in reverse chronological order. So yeah, Jane Doe isn't #1.
- All We Love We Leave Behind (2012)
- Axe to Fall (2009)
- No Heroes (2006)
- You Fail Me (2004)
- Jane Doe (2001)
- When Forever Comes Crashing (1998)
- Petitioning the Empty Sky (1996)
- Halo in a Haystack (1994)
Regarding why he thinks the band got better over time, and why his performances and output got better, is basically being chalked up to getting older and being more self-critical.
Now, at 40 years old, I like things to be as perfect as they can be. I've been playing in this band for a very long time. I don't just go in and say, "Okay, cool. I went in there and I yelled it, that's close enough." I want it to be—and I'm not saying what I do is perfect, it's far from it. We're all flawed, and that's why we sound the way we do. That's the nuance of a musician and an artist. One of the things that artists try to do is to take themselves out of the art they make, because what you make is never what you intended. You have this vision in your head, and it never exactly ends up being what you want to make. But that's what's special about it. As long as we keep doing things from that mindset, and keep doing things that push that, then I'm happy.
You can read the entire interview here at Noisey.
