Mega Infinity might be one of the most interesting ska adjacent bands around. Their music has always floated around the ska periphery, often fully embracing it, but often drifting into math rock, dream pop, prog rock, indie, and more- allowing each song drift to wherever the vibe takes it. They are a band built around community, and whether it is featuring other artists on songs, collaborating to write music, streaming on their Twitch channel to promote other artists, new music, or playing live bedroom performances for fans, Mega Infinity is always building community. Lead singer Michi DiGiulio even created her own business as a music marketing coach, PR, band management, and social media strategist (Direct Support Music). Their love and dedication to community and building relationships are unmatched.
Their newest album, Harmonic Convergence, is somehow both the unforeseen and also the very predictable next step in the evolution of Mega Infinity. The album features MC Lars, With Sails Ahead, and Bondbreakr on different songs. The music ranges from ballads to ska to very heavy hardcore. Diglo’s guitar solos are as catchy and powerful as ever. The themes of community, spirituality, and social justice, which have always been hallmarks of Mega Infinity, are present, as well as themes of family, love, and more. The album is aptly named, as it is a harmonic convergence of influences and people who came together to create a masterpiece.
The album begins with a distant singing, a single quiet note repeated on a guitar. Then a sung refrain: “When we found each other, that’s when we found ourselves.” I’ve said this before about Mega Infinity. I’ll likely say it again, there is something to the music that reminds me of 80s bands- from Blondie to Belinda Carlisle, which feels unusual for the genre. I can’t explain that comparison because it’s more of a vibe than an actual sound, but with Mega Infinity, vibes matter. After the intro, the symbols count in the guitar, and we have a proper rock song in “The World”. The spiritually uplifting song has some punk, pop, and ska influences, an absolutely shreddy guitar solo, aggressive drumming, solid callbacks/echoed vocals, and even a little organ at the end to give it a rock ballad feel.
From there, the album goes to “In Bocca Al Lupo” featuring Bondbreakr. The mouth of the wolf is not to be trifled with. If you know Bondbreakr, you know what to expect from this song, and if you don’t, it’s time you experience them. The song hints at its heavy metal themes in the intro, in what is undoubtedly metal-inspired bass, guitars, and drums, and a pair of excellent melodic voices lessen the aggression. Still, a tension remains until halfway through the second verse, when Gerilyn Hayes of Bondbreakr joins in with her deep, growled, shreddy vocals, kicking the gear up in this song about decentering men. The dueted vocals, contrasting both women’s styles, sound incredible together as they bare their teeth and growl.
The song flows seamlessly into “Temperance,” one of the pre-release singles. When this song came out last year, I noted that it was the most hardcore and metal-influenced song Mega Infinity had released to date. Now it’s no longer the most hardcore or metal song on the album. It’s still full of thick bass riffs, amazing guitars, and aggressive vocals about persistence. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the album. I love the way Mega Infinity continues to let their influences and songs wander without feeling an obligation to be bound by genre.
In that vein, “Distracted” is a softer rock song that stretches over five minutes and has an epic stretch with big instrumentals and harmonic “oh-whoa-woahs” that flow into the atmosphere.
Somehow, that feeling and sound don’t clash with the more aggressive rock of “The Crowd Goes Mild”- another pre-release single, this time featuring MC Lars. The song is an aggressive attack on algorithms and artificial intelligence, and it’s phenomenal. While Spotify (and other algorithm driven pay per service but not for music apps) has destroyed the ability of most bands to earn a living from music, and social media forces bands to work as unpaid content creators to drive algorithms to help bands lessen their losses on albums and on tours, this song is a love song to playing in empty venues as crowds go mild and a giant middle finger to the algorithms that refuse to promote it and to anyone that uses ai to fake making music or other art. Goddesses, I love this song.
“FANCUL!” Two minutes of absolutely crushing guitars, bass, drums, and a whole brass section of guest stars, including Andrew Heaton, Bex Rose, and Dani Dross, just going off! Mama Mia! Diglo gets another fucking guitar solo! The song is mostly instrumental, yet it remains one of the highlights of the album. “Fancul!”
“When you get home” was the final pre-release single, and is an emotional story that is more set to a much slower and peaceful beat that follows a couple falling in love, growing older together, having a child, and sending that child off into the world, always followed with the same message: a phone call when you get home. A message of love, concern, and safety. A reminder that you’re never alone. It’s fairly powerful and emotional.
The album closes with “The Magician”- a six-minute epic journey, a song filled with rising and falling action, amazing drums by Nicholas Starrantino, and guitars by Diglo that bring you on a journey, the sort of which The Who, The Eagles, or perhaps Journey might have been inspired to navigate. It is grandiose.
As the album closes and I play it over and over, I realize you’re not supposed to listen to it. Not with your ears. This album is an odyssey that you are supposed to feel- a convergence of harmonies. Each one stands well enough on its own, but if you listen to each on its own, you miss something. I would say that it gets lost, but that’s not right. It gets captured. It’s not supposed to be captured; it’s supposed to live and breathe and exist with you. So, instead of listening to this album, you should go out and experience it. Enjoy it.
Written by Gimp Leg
