After so many countless release delays that it became a meme, the long-awaited video game Cyberpunk 2077 is finally hitting shelves. Now, it appears as though the soundtrack is also making the rounds, with tracks by metal and hardcore heavyweights including Converge, Health, and Tomb Mold dropping to coincide with the game.
The caveat here is that the bands in question are all going by new names, seemingly to cast them as in-world bands who are different from their real-life selves. Converge are going by the name ‘Shattered Void,’ Health was using ‘Window Weather,’ Tomb Mold are ‘Bacillus’ (so far the only new name that feels like a direct reference), and The Armed are cast as ‘Homeschool Droputs.’ You have to give the bands and game designers credit — at least they’re going the extra mile in terms of world-building.
You can listen to all of the tracks below. Cyberpunk 2077 is available on most streaming services as of December 10th.
Converge, “I Won’t Let You Go” (as ‘Shattered Void‘)
Health, “Major Crimes” (as ‘Window Weather‘)
Tomb Mold, “Adaptive Manipulator” (as ‘Bacillus‘)
The Armed, “Night City Aliens” (as ‘Homeschool Dropouts‘)
Converge certainly have the staying power to make sure their music remains relevant in 2077, with their classic Jane Doe occupying an honored spot on our list of the greatest mathcore albums of all time.
“An intense feat of human endurance, crushing emotion and physical dexterity, Converge’s fourth album Jane Doe is widely considered the greatest mathcore album ever made,” wrote Jeff Terich. “That is, coming from everyone except from Converge themselves—when asked to rank the band’s records, vocalist Jacob Bannon went in reverse chronological order, placing this one essentially in the middle. It’s only fitting for a groundbreaking band to never be entirely satisfied—to always be reaching a little bit higher each time. That being said, creating a hardcore album of this level of complexity and with so many diverse moving parts so early in their career speaks to why they’re one of the greatest bands in heavy music. The first two tracks alone—“Concubine” and “Fault and Fracture”—provide enough aural chaos to last most bands an entire album. But between Jacob Bannon’s moments of soul-baring catharsis and Ben Koller’s eight-armed rhythmic assault there’s groove-laden psychedelia (“Hell to Pay”), droning shoegaze (“Phoenix in Flight”) and punchy noise rock (“Distance and Meaning”). Converge could have stopped here and been legends; they recorded several more masterpieces instead.”
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Words by Chris Krovatin
