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It’s impossible to approach Converge’s Jane Doe without baggage. It was Terrorizer’s album of the year in 2001. Decibel inducted it into the Hall of Fame and later named it album of the decade. Sputnikmusic also named it best album of the decade.
The problem with accolades is that new listeners are told what to expect before they press play. They are expecting a life-changing experience, an epiphany. It’s not much different than what new listeners of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band, Pet Sounds, or Led Zeppelin II experience. There’s no chance to approach them as a neutral listener. I discovered The Who’s Tommy on my own in a neighbor’s record rack. As a result, I feel more attached to it than these other canonical albums. Long before I knew it was about a messianic blind boy, I assumed it was about Christ. As an adult, I think it’s about both – and about Pete Townshend.
It’s best to view Jane Doe with fresh eyes and think back to when it was an album, not a milestone. Minus the praise and dissection, Jane Doe is about heartbreak, a relationship collapsing. Much great art is about lost love, whether it’s poetry, painting, or music. In metal, we’ve heard from a lovestruck Satan in “NIB” (I will give you those things you thought unreal / The sun, the moon, the stars all bear my seal). Metallica got teary-eyed with “Nothing Else Matters”. Type O Negative’s Peter Steele vented his rage with “Unsuccessfully Coping With The Natural Beauty Of Infidelity” (His tongue down your throat, his hands down your skirt, yeah I’m a man, baby, but it still hurts).
What makes Jane Doe different is that it’s not a simple good-bye, fond memory, or “fuck you”. It’s a panoramic view of a world collapsing. Nothing on this album that indicates that frontman Jacob Bannon will move past this relationship. The music – shifting between the nearly weeping guitar of “Thaw”, the schizophrenic twists of “Fault and Fracture”, and the pop introduction of “Distance And Meaning” – is the ultimate accompaniment to personal disintegration.
What’s most telling about Jane Doe is that while the female narrator bears her share of blame (“Homewrecker” and “The Broken Vow”), she’s not the only one responsible. Broken relationships involve two people. Jane Doe airs both sides of the story, so it resonates. It remains a poignant intersection of personal upheaval, passion, and art.
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HEAR JANE DOE
“Fault and Fracture”
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“Distance and Meaning”
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BUY JANE DOE
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
Equal Vision (CD, MP3, shirt)
Deathwish, Inc. (CD, 2LP, slipmat, etc.)
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When I first heard this it was the most feral and intense album I’d ever heard. Still leaves a mark every time I hear it.
Same. I listened to it once and put it aside, made no sense at all. Slowly came back it and then the first track hit. I spose all new ideas take a while to sink in, the worthwhile ones anyway.
Just how I experienced it as well! I started of with “you fail me” before slowly moving towards this record
I can’t listen to this album too often, very disturbing stuff.
Thank you for posting this. The first time I listened to petitioning the empty sky I fell in love with converge. Jane Doe is hands down one of my favorite albums of all time though. And they still kill it.
i remember buying this on a blind whim one weekend before my best friend’s wedding. i’d only heard the anb split before and that didn’t really jazz me. so this lugged around in my backpack for a full weekend at a wedding before i listened to it. when i finally did, i thought the contrast was hilarious.
This album gives me “warm and fuzzy” feelings whenever I hear it (or just one song in isolation) because it’s the proverbial “album that got me into metal.” Before Jane, I was mostly a punk/hardcore fan, and this one bridged the gap for me. The first time I heard “Homewrecker,” I immediately loved it. It was exactly what I needed to hear at that time in my life (I probably didn’t get it until ‘02). I wasn’t going through the epic break-up that this album is actually about, but my own stupid teenage drama provided me with enough frustration, so that I sought relief in such noise. Thank you Converge and thank you IO for the tribute.
I remember that a friend recommended this to me. I went to a local record store specializing in ‘alternative music’ (indie, punk, metal, industrial, etc.), and asked if they’d play it over the stereo, just so I could hear what it was about. Everyone else in the store literally stopped dead and stared in horror/bewilderment at the racket bellowing out of the speakers. SOLD!
The opening song “Concubine” is perhaps the most perfect intro to any album, ever. It’s as if the band decided to summarize their entire sound, and in effect, the entire album in 80 seconds. One of the best albums of all time and every time I listen, it still means something.
hard to fault this album innit. i remember looking forward to it coming out off the back of the ANb split and the previous two albums and when it landed i was blown away. everytime i hear it it makes me wanna go mental and mosh, even now, as i’m in my dirty thirties. can’t say they’ve ever managed to top it although certain songs off later albums always blow my mind. the really exciting thing about this post is the realisation on how old “we are the romans” by botch it. now there’s an album that really blew my guitar playing and song writing into a new direction
I picked this up the day it came out, and
I think I listened to it for 2 months straight, non-stop.
Maybe 3.
Only No Heroes has come close.
I remember reading Decibel’s best of the decade list and seeing this at number one. First thing I did was look it up on YouTube. I listened to Concubine/Fault and Fracture and didn’t know what to make of it. I kept coming back to those songs until I decided I actually really liked them. I bought the album on iTunes (along with “You Fail Me”) and listened it from beginning to end whilst reading the lyrics to each song. Needless to say, I fell in love with Jane Doe and Converge. No other album I have listened to has stroked the same emotions in me as this one. Long live Converge!
I own this album on both CD and LP but I can hardly give it a listen that often. It’s a challenging album and requires a lot of energy to go trough.
I don’t think it can get fresher than this: I was still in college when this was out and was taking a music appreciation elective. The teacher asked us to bring an in album that we like and write a presentation on it. I chose this, and played Concubine and Thaw for the class. The LOOK on people’s faces when the first track was over was indescribable, like they just witnessed a murder. One dude said “Who’s the chick screaming?”.
I agree though, the flow is like a movie script that tells both sides of the disbandment and the collapsing world around them. To this day, the last scream on “Thaw” still gives me chills. And out of all the times I saw them, they played it once. Seeing them play it was an experience. One of the top shows of my life.
I remembered avoiding this album for years for exactly the reasons Justin mentioned. Then in 2008 I had my “Jane Doe Breakup.” Got this on Cd and listened to it on the way to work every morning on the L line and Green line from Chelsea to Brooklyn. Pure magic–@Jessica this album got me from extreme metal into extreme punk.
Jane Doe has seen me through awful thoughts and awful near-deeds.
Good music saves lives, and Jane Doe saved mine.
I didn’t understand Converge to begin with, I don’t think many people did, however it is probably the only album which does not get tired even after ten years of overlistening. Not only is the sound original but the angry masculine take on love is almost unique. It is fitting that metal is the medium that has generated this subject matter being a genre of music that is enjoyed mostly by men. The artwork completes the package – super modern and shamelessly emotive. I wear my Black Cloud T almost continuously.
Large respect to Converge.
You fail me and No Heros I see as a musical continuation of Jane Doe (and also axe to fall) – just as you feel you are becoming familiar with one you can listen to the others. After a few years of this you may be able to appreciate some of their other even less digestible stuff (I am at this stage now)
I would compare Jane Doe to Sgt. Peppers or DRE 2001
check out the guitarists production on the new Today is the Day album.
Also listen to In the eyes of God by Titd.
for the heart still beating BEATING BEATING AAAAAAAAARGH
when i first heard Converge i hated them, i couldn’t what was going on. None of it made sense, and i dismissed it as mindless violent noise. However upon encouragement of a close and much repsected friend i tried them again. This time i was still unsure, but i found something intriguing and i didn’t know what it was, so i kept listening. Jane doe was the first Album by converge i listened to start to finish. Something clicked and my mind was blown. I couldnt understand how these people managed to weave mindless, violent rage with techincal precision in such a diabolical but stunningly beatiful way. Pure expression. Thats what Jane Doe is to me. Now i own almost all of Converge’s albums on vinyl and got plenty more merch to. By far my favourite band. LOVE
when i first heard Converge i hated them, i couldn’t what was going on.
I had the same initial reaction. Outside of expectations related to genre or the accolades Justin mentioned, it really is difficult music. Once you get into it, though, there’s no turning back.
I skipped this band to see a way past their prime Obituary at the MDFest 2010, and man am I glad I did. I don’t hear anything here, I see bands playing this “plaid riffing” type of shit all the time,sounds like early Dillinger Escape Plan. I guess you may think this is metal but blegh, the people who play and like this shit make shit boring.
Cheers. I stuck around for like 2-3 songs when they player MDF and left.
I think some Converge stuff is good (like the song Axe to Fall–WAY better than anything on Jane Doe), but I don’t get the praise this album garners. Maybe if I’d heard it at the time it was released I’d have a different understanding or appreciation of it, but as it stands now, I generally can’t stand what this has gone on to influence, and I try to keep a safe distance from people who profess to be Converge fans.
I’m really not down with the subject matter, either. My preferred metal relationship commentary comes Katatonia or Devin Townsend.
The thing I love most about this record, obvious elements aside, is that it is so abrasive, heavy and punishing that it is actually exhausting to listen to. As someone who wants to engage and be engaged by what I listen to, records of this nature are not only uncommon, but seldom surpassed in those regards. Not extreme for the sake of being so, ‘Jane Doe’ wells up a fierce swell of sound that maintains a vitality quite at odds with contemporaries running a similar gauntlet.
For me Converge get better and better as they go along. A benchmark album indeed, but not their finest.
This is an album (and artist) that I have heard a lot about but never really listened to. I just listened to the first half of this release. While trying not to be too hasty, I’ve gotta say.. What the F*#& is he saying?!?!
I’ve been listening to metal for about 17 years, and I’m annoyed as the next metalhead by the guy/gal who whines “I can’t understand the lyrics”. I feel they’re missing the point of the music. But for at least the first few tracks on this album, the dude’s screams don’t even remotely match up to the lyrics I’m trying to read along with.
This is only my first impression of what I’ve heard thus far. And from this first impression it sounds like good metal, high energy, hell of a show, but a lyrical train wreck.
I feel like a noob for posting my first impressions of a critically acclaimed album from 2001, but it’s just annoying to hear about what a great concept the album is, then I have to READ the story separately from listening to the songs. Much better to enjoy the songs and story side by side. Good music though. Perhaps just a case of what Justin refers to in the article in that I read all the hype before hearing the album.
I’ll keep it in my playlist for now and maybe sometime soon I’ll “get it”.
I’m not sure you have to read the lyrics to feel what this album is about.
Lyrics in music are as important as they are prominent. On this album, you can’t figure out where the lyrics go even if you’re listening with the sheets in front of you. I can’t think of an album that isn’t instrumental on which the lyrics matter less. If you want to talk about why this album is enduringly great, which it is, any mention of the lyrics is superfluous. This album is great because of its dense but clear production, which manages to sound thick and wild without obscuring what’s going on; and because of the way each instrument has its place in the song, the way the basslines don’t just chug under the guitarlines, and the way the drums add something memorable to each song instead of just keeping the beat; and because of its unpredictably-shaped riffs which never end when you think they will (‘Thaw’ rivaling the most obtuse bits of Sleep and Today is the Day for sheer misdirection); and because of its whiplash structure, the way it moves from the sheerly assaulting (‘Concubine,’ ‘Bitter and Then Some’) to the more restrained (‘Hell to Pay,’ ‘Jane Doe’) without sacrificing its emotional intensity or its memorable riffs. The vocals here are a minor but important rhythmic instrument, a vicious contributor to the record’s ‘feral intensity,’ as an above poster put it. It’s a great album because it’s awingly tight, because no pieces are out of place, not because of its mopey and melodramatic concept. I can’t help but make the connection between the fact that you’ve discussed this album as words instead of as music and the fact that your primary reference points for talking about it are the Who and the Beatles.
With much of the metal I listen to, I could give a rats ass about the lyrics, but this one in particular was presented as an album that has a meaningful story line. So it is frustrating to try to read along with the lyrics/story and get NOTHING out of it (the first time through anyway). It’s as though they recorded an album using meaningless gibberish for lyrics, then decided what the lyrics should say later, without any regard for a “what sounds right” or “what fits where” mindset. Just nonsense.
Perhaps I should approach the album from a different direction though. From what I read above, I just assumed I should be able to look up the lyrics, listen to the music, and be engrossed for about an hour. Instead I found myself surfing different sites wondering whether some guy mistakenly typed up the wrong lyrics to the wrong song (because again, they don’t match up AT ALL).
I’ll give it another go tomorrow morning, without regard to the lyrics.
I don’t think the lyrical content of this album is what makes it so good. In fact I have listened to this album hundreds of times and don’t think I could even quote one full sentence. Reasons why this slays: Ben’s drumming was some next level shit, especially the way he busts out 1/8s on the snare in songs like fault and fracture. Nate stepped up the soundscape in that you can actually hear the bass on this recording as opposed to their previous albums. 3. Nothing ever sounded like this previous to its release and while there are many that have tried, nothing ever will.
This guy knows what he’s talking about. New Alliance and Andrews production are things that were becoming the norm in the late 90s-early 00s. Warm. Be able to play. Scissorfight, Milligram, Tree(hows daves nose?), OMG, Isis, Cave-In, Converge. All recorded in that shithole. Get Scissorfight back together. Scissorfight is the only one that matters.
After being told to give numerous songs extra tries (and doing so) and seeing the band live twice, I still think they’re absolute crap (to be fair that’s my opinion for most of the bands that fit their sub-genre).
Nicely written review.
No doubt that Jane Doe is a great album, but it’s also kind of a shame that Converge hasn’t done anything else particularly merit-worthy before or since. I suppose having one great album in your catalogue is better than having none at all. Also, the last time I saw this band live (on the Dethklok tour) they were awful, which is also too bad, because I was lucky enough to see them supporting Jane Doe back in the day and it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
I didn’t think High on Fire or Converge sounded very good on that dethklok/mastodon tour. It seemed as though they didnt have a proper sound check. Seeing them play in much smaller club sized venues is definitely the way to go
Jane Doe is good and emotional. But early Converge is what kills me, not this.
I remember buying petitioning & forever comes crashing like a month before this album came out and Converge has probably been one of my favorite bands since. Its kind of funny to me how people mentioned it being a difficult listen, as it usually gets me pretty pumped every time I throw it on but I have also listened to this album so many times. This was the first and pretty much last band in the metalcore genre I truly enjoy.
I took a music & computers class in high school were we had to edit a 3-4 minute song down to ~1 minute while keeping it coherent. I made the mistake of choosing Homewrecker and drove myself crazy trying to edit Ben’s drum riffs together so it sounded like a shorter version of the same song.
This “music” sucks.
It’s strange for me to think of this album as the accepted classic it’s become. I came up in this scene, first Western Mass then Boston, and Converge were the hometown heroes for me and all my friends. We got into hardcore listening to Petitioning the Empty Sky… the Saddest Day was mosh anthem for everyone I knew.
Jane Doe, then, for us in the local scene came as more of an album of transition, where they let go of their earlier sound (hardcore mixed with ’90s emo and galloping metal riffs) and embraced what they would later become. When it came out we all liked it, but none of us thought it was any better than Petitioning the Empty Sky or When Forever Comes Crashing. Personally I still find the production a bit weak.
At that stage, Converge were mainly a live band in my mind. They’d been playing some of these songs for a couple years with Aaron Dalbec on 2nd guitar — as the resident hardcore guy, he brought more swagger to the songs, adding a heavier, chunkier live element (with some serious breakdowns). To suddenly lose one of the core members, and to go and record an album without him felt really strange to a lot of us on the sidelines. The Broken Vow is a good example: there’s this lengthy section of hammer-ons that comes in twice… live, Kurt & Aaron played their riffs entirely left-handed, fist-pumping their right hands and high-fiving right before the song kicks back in. This album is a classic, but that sense of fun slowly faded away after Aaron left. From then on, these guys became straight up road warriors, constantly touring, playing a lot less local shows, and it was only a matter of time til they jumped ship from EVR to Epitaph, and the audience expanded hugely. Its obviously been a good thing for the band, but it was an odd sensation to witness firsthand.
Something that people usually overlook about Jane Doe is that the album is, at times, a really obvious hodge-podge of outside influences; stuff that most people probably credit to Converge in the first place. The proggy riffing of Thaw came straight from their exposure to other ‘technical’ metalcore acts like Dillinger Escape Plan. Distance and Meaning was them drawing off Louisville hardcore, stuff like National Acrobat and those type of ‘noisy hardcore’ bands. The final track, with its new-to-them chugging rock influence, which was straight out of what Cave In and Isis were doing at the time. As much as they ultimately transcended their roots, Converge were really just the frontrunner of an active scene. It doesn’t lessen the impact of these songs in the slightest, but it does make for an interesting context, and one that’s often forgotten when talking about this record.
I’m glad that you can’t understand most of what he’s screaming on this album. It’s as if he’s scatting the lyrics, making the whole experience even more cathartic. The decipherable stuff is good too though, especially The Broken Vow and the end of Heaven In Her Arms.
Anyways, yeah… love this album. Great music, great production, plenty of unique tracks, and damn-near-iconic artwork. I don’t think an album like this will be coming out for a while.
Definitely the most important album during a bad part of my life. My relationship with a girl was borderline friend and romantic partner. Due to complications, we couldn’t make something positive and it unfortunately turned to a negative situation of confusion, doubt, and lies. Even with my courteous attempts afterwards, the relationship never revived to any extent.
The uncontrollable lyrical and musical attack of Jane Doe felt comforting and cathartic because every song represented an emotion I felt through the event. I am happy that this album existed because without it, I wouldn’t move on with my life like Jake did.