Converge + Pile

It’s rare that the most well-known exponent of a style is also the best, and that’s why this band stands out. Converge is in the benchmark business: The 27-year-old metalcore quartet’s new LP, The Dusk in Us, arrives five years after the critical triumph All We Love We Leave Behind—and over a decade after the subgenre landmark Jane Doe (which saw a live rendition release in 2015)—but it packs a nostalgia-killing thrill. From opening breathtaker “A Single Tear” forward, vocalist Jacob Bannon, guitarist Kurt Ballou, bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller operate here at peak strength.