Jane Doe (album)

Bannon stated in an interview that many of the songs on Jane Doe came from the side project Supermachiner; the project was claimed to inspire Jane Does experimental side. The title track and "Phoenix in Flight" were initially intended for the Supermachiner album Rise of the Great Machine, but Bannon thought it made sense for Converge to play them. and that prior to Newton joining the band, Ballou was the dominant songwriter. Ballou has said with the addition of Newton that the album became more collaborative in terms of songwriting, which was not the case prior. The entire album was recorded on six reels of two inch tape at three studios and mixed in two. It was mostly recorded at Q Division Studios, next door to James Taylor's recording session. Newton later recalled: "He [Taylor] kept sending his engineer over to tell us to be quiet. 'Mr. Taylor is trying to record vocal tracks, and you guys are goofing off and being way too loud over here.'" Additional recording took place at GodCity Studio and Fort Apache, and took around three years. The band recorded for seven days at Q Division using two rooms dubbed "Studio A" and "Studio B". Studio A was used to record the slower songs because the room was bigger than Studio B, which Ellard stated was more optimal for invoking ambience in their sound than Studio B. Studio B was used to record the more uptempo songs due to its smaller size. Ballou has stated that Jane Doe is the first Converge album that he is "proud of from start to finish". == Music and lyrics ==

According to Bryan Rolli of Loudwire: "Jacob Bannon’s indecipherable barks mask his disarmingly poetic lyrics, while Kurt Ballou’s stabbing guitar riffs and Ben Koller’s dizzying drums send the songs hurtling forward at maximum velocity." Bannon stated that the album's lyrical themes were born out of a dissolving relationship and the emotional fallout from that experience. The booklet lists the lyrics of the opening track "Concubine" as "For I felt the greatest of winters coming/ And I saw you as seasons shifting from blue to grey/ That's where the coldest of these days await me/And distance lays her heavy head beside me/ There I'll stay gold, forever gold", although the only lyrics said in the song are "You stay gold/I'll stay gold". Scott Butterworth of Noisey said, "It's a somewhat confusing incongruity, but at the same time, it's eerily reminiscent of a moment most of us have experienced. If you've ever planned an eloquent, well-reasoned speech in your head only to feel too overwhelmed, too hurt, too emotional to spit it out when the time came, you can understand the brilliant trick Bannon is pulling here." == Artwork ==

The artwork for Jane Doe was designed and created by Jacob Bannon. The booklet features lyrics for each song on the album, which are intentionally scattered and difficult to decipher. Bannon stated, "Visually, I just wanted to capture that disillusionment with relationships and channel the negatives I felt. I did this in hopes of creating some sort of positive out of all the negative I was experiencing." The result was a mystery created from a variety of media, collage, photography, spraypaint, and ink that Bannon then assembled digitally. == Release and promotion ==

In mid-2000, Converge self-released a three-track record titled Jane Doe Demos during their 2000 tour, which were limited to 100 copies. The CDs contained unreleased demo versions of "Bitter and Then Some" and "Thaw" from the upcoming album, as well as a cover of "Whatever I Do" by Negative Approach. Jane Doe was released on September 4, 2001 through Equal Vision Records as a CD and double vinyl which came in multiple colors. Converge's first tour in support of Jane Doe was in September 2001 with Drowningman and Playing Enemy. Drowningman later dropped out of the tour to work on a new album. In 2002, a music video was released for the tracks "Concubine" and "Fault and Fracture", directed by Zach Merck, a longtime friend of the band. The video was filmed on location in Los Angeles in over three days in September. The band stated on their website that "although it's always difficult to hand over creative control of a project, we can safely say [Merck] did a commendable job on the project", and also gave special thanks to Ashley for "sitting in a bathtub of blood for over two hours". Bannon's Deathwish Inc (under exclusive license from Equal Vision) repressed the album on vinyl, accompanied by a 28-page booklet. The double LP became available for pre-order at the Deathwish web store on April 1, 2010, and then became available in August 2010. ==Reception and legacy==

Jane Doe received wider acclaim than Converge's previous albums, with Terrorizer naming it their Album of the Year. Christopher Dare of Pitchfork Media awarded the album with a rating of 7.7 out of 10, deeming it "so full of intelligence, skill and intensity that it's simply masterful." Blake Butler of Allmusic stated that Converge "put the final sealing blow on their status as a legend in the world of metallic hardcore" with the album, calling it "an experience -- an encyclopedic envelopment of so much at once." In 2007, Decibel magazine placed the album at number 35 on its "Decibel Hall of Fame" list, and later named it the best album of the 2000s. Sputnikmusic placed Jane Doe at number one on its list of the best albums of the 2000s, and Loudwire placed the album at number ten on its list of the 11 best metal albums of the 2000s. In March 2023, Rolling Stone ranked the album's opening track, "Concubine", at number seventy-eight on their list of "The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time". The album has exerted considerable influence in extreme music circles and attained a cult following. Japanese band Heaven in Her Arms are named after the song of the same name. NME wrote in 2018: "The spasmodic, guttural twists and turns of Converge’s bile-packed, visceral take on hardcore are yet to be rivalled, 17 years after ‘Jane Doe’’s release." Revolver wrote in 2019: "Jane Doe is the record that launched a million T-shirts and tattoos with its iconic cover, but it’s the lasting impact on heavy music and the thousands of rip-off acts that truly speak to its legacy. Helping to shape the landscape of American heavy metal for the next decade and beyond, this metalcore masterpiece deservedly remains Converge’s most beloved record, as well as a genre favorite, even now, 18 years after its bombastic debut." In 2021, Eli Enis of Revolver included the song "Concubine" in his list of the "15 Greatest Album-Opening Songs in Metal". In 2025, Rolli of Loudwire said it was the band's best album and wrote: "To the uninitiated, Jane Doe sounds like an impenetrable wall of bloodcurdling hardcore. To faithful Converge fans, it also sounds like an impenetrable wall of bloodcurdling hardcore — but in a complimentary way. [...] Jane Doe has worked its tendrils into various strains of metalcore and inspired legions of imitators, though none can hold a candle to its destructive onslaught." Accolades A "—" denotes the publication's list is in no particular order, and Jane Doe did not rank numerically. ==Track listing==

Jane Doe personnel adapted from CD liner notes. Artwork and design • Atomic! ID – art direction and design Production and recording history • Fred Archambalt – recording assistant • Kurt Ballou – recording, pre-production, mixing • Jacob Bannon – mixing • Matt Beaudoin – recording assistant • Mathew Ellard – recording, mixing • Alan Douches – mastering • Andy Hong – pre-production • Carl Plaster – drum tech • Recorded at Q Division, God City and Fort Apache • Mixed at Fort Apache • Mastered at West West Side • All recording and mixing was performed in an analog format. == Notes ==