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Sarah Tomlinson

Live Previews

CONVERGE AND CAVE IN
FACE OFF AFTER LAST CALL

The two Boston-reared bands Cave In and Converge are presumably on the brotherhood trip these days—they’re even on a nationwide tour together. But it’s a lot more fun to imagine the two bands facing off after last call for a West Side Story-styled brawl: Cave In front man Stephen Brodskylashes his epic lyrics to wild zigzag guitar and launches them like a lighting bolt, and in response, Converge singer Jacob Bannon peels his challengers’ skin off with his gruff, animalistic roar, while his band turns battering-ram behind him. Oh, yeah—and then somebody revs up a chain saw and . . . well, okay, dreams of bloodlust aside, there’s no need to pit these bands against each other: they’re well-suited to share a stage, a tour and a hometown. Both are carving out their own hard-rock niche, with Cave In as the willful lords of reinvention who’ve both enraged and enticed their fans by changing from hardcore screamers to stoner-rock virtuosos to classic-rock-cum-pop-metal with enough aplomb to confuse everyone, including their former label, RCA, with whom they split after releasing Antenna last year. Meanwhile, Converge are forcing their way to the front of the hardcore pack, having translated the success of their fourth official full-length album, Jane Doe (Equal Vision), to a contract with punk rock moguls Epitaph for their new album, You Fail Me, as blistering and brazen as anything they’ve done. It’s bound to be a brutal show, even without the street fight afterward.