Convert “Unrestrained”

sfilzen — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 18:14:13 +0000

Convert “Unrestrained” Remix EP, 2023. Triple Eye Industries. Released this past weekend, on limited edition cassette and CD only. Milwaukee industrial-goth, post-punk and currently my favorite local band. We made it out to the release party show at Promises on Friday night and it was pretty epic, though no one saw much because of the intensity of the smoke machine. This literally is the best picture we took (and I’ve applied filters so you can at least kind of see Dillon singing). Funniest part of the evening: the young guy with the dreads you can see in the photo below at one point tried to start a mosh pit. Some of the young women in the crowd freaked and scurried out of the way to near where we were standing by the wall. Joe lightly grabbed the guy by the shoulder and told him to “Settle down!” I laughed so hard because it was such an old-man moment: get off my lawn!

Convert at Promises, March 3rd 2023

Anyway, Unrestrained is a collection of six remixed tracks from their 2022 LP Saves and it’s amazing. I think I actually like the remixes even better than the originals. Super extra dark, with the industrial sound amped into EBM territory. Think early (good) Ministry, Front 242, Nitzer Ebb meets The Cure, Bauhaus and Siouxsie. I 100% would have been dancing to these tracks on industrial night in the 80’s. “Watch It Burn (Blood Remix)” and “Bleached Bones (Vic Dagger Remix)” are ass-shaking amazing. I also love the swirly dream-synth accent on “Nightbursts (TransAmvania Remix)” and “Death Mask (Cellmate Remix)” is terrifying — in a good way. I also must give a shoutout to the sludgy track “Cold Motive (Guerrilla Ghost Remix)” mostly because I know one of the Guerrilla Ghost guys. You can get your own copy here.

The post Convert “Unrestrained” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

Convert “Saves”

sfilzen — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 18:44:15 +0000

Convert “Saves” 2022. Triple Eye Industries. Limited edition blue vinyl. Convert is one of the best new local Milwaukee bands; technically this album doesn’t drop until April 29th but because we got in on the vinyl preorder and and we live in their neighborhood, here it is! Gothically dark and crashingly post-punk with elements of industrial, metal and noise rock, their debut Saves is fantastic. Singer Dillon Hallen (Burning Sons, Brain Bats, a really sweet guy!) howls in the most deliciously tortured way. Drummer Ben Davison (Get Rad) provides the crash while bassist Richie Murry (Assault & Battery) keeps the music steady, heavy and dark. Guitarist Sam Sharkey (The Pukes) kills with power chords and overwhelming sound and fury. But I think the key to Convert’s exciting sound is keyboardist Mick Cleary who stealthily slides in some lighter melodic touches (see especially “Night Bursts”) and crazy electronic sounds (“Tribeless”). He’s also really fun to watch play live.

We saw Convert perform a couple of times pre-pandemic (they formed in 2019) and just recently saw them play when they opened for The Pack A.D. here in Milwaukee at the end of March. The lighting at The Backroom Colectivo sucks so it’s hard to tell how dynamic Convert are from these photos.

My top tracks from Saves are the EBM/Nitzer-Ebbish opener “Bleached Bones,” “Concrete Life” which recalls the good, old Ministry “Stigmata” and “Thieves” days, Convert’s first video/album single “Slow Choke” and the nihilistic “Watch It Burn,” which Dillon described to Milwaukee Record as exemplifying “the fruitless fight to solve the overwhelming horror of humanity and then ultimately accepting its hopeless cycle. It’s meant to express the beauty of our chaotic existence and the liberating feeling of letting go because no one is bothering to put out the flames. The song describes generations of souls watching in awe of the all-consuming flames until the last generation inherits the ash.”

The post Convert “Saves” appeared first on Vinyl From The Vault.

convert Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Convert “Unrestrained”

Convert “Saves”