METAL

OK, so metal is generally the ‘duh’-centric domain of Beavis & Butthead but amidst the OTT-ridiculousness of it all, there are groups who have pushed the genre past artifice into art. Boston’s Converge, are such craftsmen.

In a 15-year career they have become a byword for idealism and experimentation. No Heroes is no exception. Whether it’s the instrumental, ‘Weight . . .’, the 58-second maelstrom, ‘Vengeance’ or the nine-minute doom-ballad, ‘Grim Heart/Black Rose’ with - gasp! - sung vocals, the tension is wrung out through convulsive rhythms, dynamics and textures.

That seven albums in, Converge are still innovators is one thing. That they can craft something as fragile as it is ferocious is an altogether greater achievement.