Before I heard this record, I was just another standard high school freshman. I loved singing along to Blink 182, scanning the radio and learning Metallica riffs on my guitar. Little did I know that there was an entire world of underground culture, unheard intensity and raging angst that I had yet to tap into. Converge’s “Jane Doe” opened that world up to me, and as cheesy as it sounds, this album changed my life in a profound way. This is kind of a long story with a lot of personal insight, so be prepared.
I was introduced to Converge by one of my best friends at the time, Clay Frickey. We used to spend hours on end with our guitars, reading tabs and trading solos. He was a sophomore in high school when I was a lowly freshman, and while that year difference didn’t actually mean anything, I looked up to him as an older brother of sorts. He went to Lakewood High School, a school with a booming underground music scene (yeah, back when “the scene” didn’t have a label), and I went to Heritage, home of the best High School weight room in the state. Basically, we existed in two different worlds, and I wanted to be in his. While other kids I hung out with went to football games and parties, Clay would drag me to basement shows. Deep in the bowels of Lakewood, I witnessed the glory days of bands such as Humble Ary, The Kindercide and Rivers Run Dry (now known as To Be Eaten– you can find some of their titles on Dead Format). Unitl this point, the only screaming I had ever heard was in nu-metal. These were some of the most raw, musically intriguing, honest bands I’ve seen to this day; these kids put every ounce of energy and emotion they had into every performance. It was around this time Clay let me borrow a mix CD with a bunch of random stuff he had on his media player, and the first track was Converge’s “Concubine”. It was hard to digest at first, butI had never heard anything like it and I began to crave it more and more. It was very reminiscent of the local bands and the culture I was falling in love with. I was shopping at Best Buy one day with my parents and decided to pick up “Jane Doe” on a whim. It was the first Converge record I saw, and I just grabbed it without looking at any of the other titles, mainly because of the artwork. I had no idea what kind of depth lay inside this album.
“Jane Doe” is nothing less than an epic masterpiece, filled with raw emotion, technically astounding percussion, abrasive walls of guitar and lyrical genius. When this record came out, I’m willing to bet that nothing like it had ever been created before. That kind of high-caliber production mixed with such an intense, overwhelming sound was completely unprecedented. It’s the kind of record that when you first hear it, your stomach becomes a little upset… but with the next few listens it makes you feel warm inside and you can’t get enough of it. Anyone who has ever experienced a broken heart will find solace in this album—they will undoubtedly relate to the dark, angry onslaught and pure heartache found in every track. If you’re not an emo kid at all, you’ll still be blown away by the musical integrity. It’s a perfect example of how something so painful can produce a piece of art so beautiful. And if you don’t care about any of that, it’s great for just rocking out.
Jane Doe was the first hardcore record I ever bought, and to this day I will maintain that it’s also the best. The album was one of the most pivotal in my own life; it has shaped so much of my taste thus far. It embodies everything that is still pure, even in today’s increasingly oversaturated music scene. If you have a taste for heavy music, go buy it immediately.