UMUR
"Petitioning the Empty Sky" is the 2nd full-length studio (and partly live) album by US post hardcore/metalcore act Converge. The album was released through Ferret Music in early 1996. The recording history makes this more of a compilation album than a "regular" studio release. The studio tracks were recorded during different sessions and the inclusion of live tracks also points in the compilation release direction.
Converge continues the adventurous, aggressive, and powerful post hardcore/metalcore style that they initiated on their debut full-length studio album "Halo in a Haystack (1994)", but on "Petitioning the Empty Sky" they include more metal elements than on the debut. The raw shouting vocals, the breakdowns, and nods toward punk are definitely hardcore elements, but there are some pretty fierce Slayer type thrash metal riffing on the album too and those elements combined make "Petitioning the Empty Sky" quite an interested but also confusing listen. Sometimes the combination works wonders and other times the mix of genres seems a bit odd. I´d say it´s successful most of the time. The sound production is generally of good quality even though the studio tracks were recorded at different sessions.
The live tracks are loud, noisy and raw. They feature an acceptable sound quality but are probably mostly interesting to the hardcore fans. So "Petitioning the Empty Sky" is somewhat of a mixed bag and sligthly directionless in style, but Converge still manages to entertain greatly with their adventurous attitude towards music. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.