Hum of Hurt

Metalcore has recently been in something of a renaissance. With the rise in popularity of bands like Knocked Loose, Kublai Khan TX (for better or worse) and Ice Nine Kills (again, for better or worse), groups like Bring Me the Horizon and Motionless in White have been seemingly jumping back into the musical mainstream. This seems to have also broadened into a newfound fondness for the screechy and sassy early-aughts metalcore acts like Attack Attack! and I Set My Friends on Fire — to the point where the genre as a whole is becoming readily mentioned in a positive nostalgic context, which is a far cry from the negative reputation it had less than even five years ago.During the rise and fall of metalcore — from the most popular heavy subgenre to the butt of jokes on metal forums globally — that preceded this phenomenon, Converge were more persistent than they're often given credit for. It's fitting, then, that the metalcore renaissance is happening at the same time as a Converge renaissance.Released earlier this year, their first album in nine years, Love Is Not Enough, was a reminder of the genre's roots from the band that basically developed it. The record was deranged, dynamic and mathy; it chugged, it screeched, reminding me of the metalcore I love. Finding out there would be more new music from Converge this year was mind-blowing, yet perhaps makes sense: this is a band that were silent for a long time, but now have a lot to say.Their second LP of 2026, Hum of Hurt is slower than the band's usual pace, and more melodic — which is a bit jarring coming off of Love Is Not Enough, but it does make it very evident that none of the tracks were repurposed leftovers. It leans way more into the "core" aspects of metalcore, and in many ways sounds like a throwback to Converge's first album, 1995's Caring and Killing, which was more of a straightforward hardcore record."Dream Debris" is where the unhurried clip of the album is at its most effective. The bass intro is tense and foreboding, and the distant clean vocals sound the best any kind of singing on a Converge song has ever sounded. That said, the classic mathcore and experimental stylings of the group's more prolific output are still present: with its irregular time signature, "I Won't Let You Go" gets weird, and "It's Not Up to Us" is full of guitar parts reminiscent of the frantic metalcore sound of 2001's Jane Doe and 1996's Petitioning the Empty Sky.Lyrically, the band is in an interesting place. On Hum of Hurt, Coverge's introspection has a gravitas that seems wise with age. Intro track "Slip the Noose" reads like they're relating to the new generation of bands, recognizing the same rage they once had ("I see young me in you / Anger glows in your heart"), while "Doom and Bloom" feels like advice for musicians following in their footsteps, writing about pain as a means of processing it.Their old-school status helps the sentiment of "It Only Gets Worse," some of the lyrics to which would absolutely result in rolled eyes if they were sung by your buddy's straight edge band in high school, rise above clichés with the known past they reference. The bouncy, nu-metal of "Detonator" reinforces how life only continues to get harder as you get older, but Converge don't succumb to the nihilism, once again offering mentorship: "Make amends before it grows too late / Don't be blown apart by your mistakes."Overall, the album is more Converge — who can complain? While not reaching the heights of Love Is Not Enough, there's still a great deal to enjoy on Hum of Hurt. The more melodic stylings are an interesting and compelling departure, and the introspective lyrics have a great deal of wisened depth. If almost any other metalcore or hardcore band released this album, it would probably be some of their best work.