CONVERGE - “LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH”
Written by: Tom Wilson | Monday 9th February 2026
Is Love Enough?
Love is not enough. You can say “I love you” until you’re blue in the face, but unless it’s backed up by actions, it’s meaningless. It’s not enough to just say “I love you”. You need to show it through your actions.
Likewise, being CONVERGE is not enough. The amazing live shows, the famous logo, Jane Doe … all the good will and scene cred in the world doesn’t mean shit unless you can back it up.
So, have they?
PICTURED: CONVERGE by Jason Zucco
Being the album title, first track and also first single, CONVERGE were very intent on Love Is Not Enough being at the front of your mind throughout this album. Revving to life before breaking into a sprint of frantic riffage and berserk drumming, they go for the throat immediately – Jacob’s vocals dripping with the same dark emotion as his evocative cover art design. They slow things down for Bad Faith, in no hurry to bludgeon us before erupting in a huge gang vocal, and the guitar work could have come from the No Heroes era.
Just when we’ve been lulled into the slow tempo, we are grabbed by the throat by the warp-speed hardcore rager Distract and Divide. It’s as subtle as a guitar headstock to the face, but it’s a lot more enjoyable. Ben Koller’s furious drumming reminds me of his Instagram content where he plays popular songs at insane speeds, and the band go harder in one-minute-thirty than some bands manage in a whole album. The guitars in To Feel Something sound like an anxiety attack feels, and reminds me of Gold Coast scramz crew BLIND GIRLS. “I just wanted to feel something,” Jake screams, and even without context, it feels intensely relatable.
Beyond Repair is a moody interlude like you’d find on No Heroes or You Fail Me, as a slow, endlessly reverberating, rusty guitar rings out in the darkness. It trudges wearily forward, like some kind of funeral procession, before a sudden deafening snare hit cracks open next track Amon Amok. A slow-burning neck workout, the rumbling groove collapses into feedback. Force Meets Presence begins with a GOJIRA-esque stomp that breaks into a sprint, and the guitars crank the punk rock to 100. It’s an absolute whirlwind that will stir up a thousand circle pits. We slow back down for Gilded Cage, and Jacob’s clean vocals wail over a sinister bass groove. It sounds like something from noise rock legends UNSANE, calling to mind images of grimy concrete and urban decay, slowly building to a neck-breaking climax. From there, we take a sharp left-turn into SoCal punk territory for the opening of Make Me Forget You, and for a few seconds before the vocals kick in, you’d think you were watching an old skateboarding video from the 90s. The vocals, however, are classic CONVERGE, and we follow Jake’s tortured screams as they fade into the distant reverb. From the darkness, an ominous drum beat slowly builds, before kicking off the finale, We Were Never The Same. Jacob sounds like he’s having a breakdown during the verses as an eerie guitar plinks away behind him, before the chorus comes crashing down on us with the weight and power of a freak wave. The second single released from this album, CONVERGE have already shown us the first and last page of this story. On February 13th, the whole story will be yours, and as I hope you can tell from this review, it’s a story worth hearing.
The album leans more into their hardcore and punk roots than previous albums, and it feels more focused than their last effort, 2017’s slightly uneven The Dusk In Us. CONVERGE have been utterly uncompromising their entire career, and you know that every album is 100% their vision. In 2026, that vision is called Love Is Not Enough, and it’s their best album since 2009’s Axe To Fall.
Love Is Not Enough is out February 13th on Epitaph. Pre-order here.