Converge - Petitioning The Empty Sky
1998 Equal Vision Records

Track Listing:
1.  The Saddest Day
2.  Forsaken
3.  Albatross
4.  Dead
5.  Shingles
6.  Buried But Breathing
7.  Farewell Note To This City
8.  Color Me Blood Red
9.  For You/Antithesis
10. Homesong

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Jake Bannon
Guitars:  Kurt Ballou, Aaron Dalbec
Bass (tracks 1-8):  Steve Brodsky
Bass (tracks 9-10):  Jeff Feinburg
Drums:  Damon Bellorado

Website:  www.convergecult.com

Lamp's Rating:  B+
Average Rating:  B+

Lamp's Review:
Boston's Converge hit hard with this release, which includes legendary tracks such as The Saddest Day, a 7 minute song that reaches over all corners.  They kept this album pretty fast for a hardcore album, but it still has the kind of melodic licks you could expect after hearing the songs that now make up Caring & Killing.  If there's one thing I really don't like about this album, it's the singing.  Not the screaming, but the singing at times, it sounds very obnoxious and nasally rather than something you'd consider good, but I guess if you were screaming your brains out too, you'd be lucky to get anything melodic out of your mouth.  Some people have said this band is overrated and that all they have is speed, but I beg to differ.  Whenever the speed is used, it's always well timed, and there are plenty of slower songs to round out the bunch like For You/Antithesis, but that doesn't mean they're any mellower.  And of course, we can't forget what hardcore originated from with songs like Buried But Breathing, which sound unusually punk for this genre.  Overall, if you can get past the singing vocals, this one's a solid buy.
Lamp's Rating:  B+