Catharsis are one of those bands that you neglect hearing until that fateful moment you finally hear them and then you kick yourself for the next 6 months for not hearing them sooner. For me, its also another case of a style I simply wasn't into at the time they were at their peak. Sadly, that means I missed seeing them live. Their body of work however is extensive and good enough that it balances those "i'm a fucking idiot" feelings a bit.
Catharsis was heavy. Catharsis was fast. Catharsis was crazy. And all of those comments could be used to describe their music or even their lyrics. Catharsis took deep concepts, heavy & fast music, and made into something very distinctly their own. With a speedy & heavy sound that conjures up Tragedy, its safe to say Tragedy & His Hero is Gone probably listened to some Catharsis in their time. Political as can be (their singer began releasing their stuff via the Crimethinc. Collective) and even flatly anarchist, Catharsis in their audio state is a truck hitting a brick wall at 80mph and going on afterwards despite the wheels being off and the engine in flames.
Long songs & some interesting sounds to mix things up (their album "Passion" is still available, find it if for nothing else, the song "Deserts without Mirages" and hear how a band like this can make a smooth reggae song blend with haunting spoken word into a slow screaming mess and back into reggae- NO, seriously!), Catharsis may not have been ahead of their time, but they probably existed in their own time.
Members went on to other bands, including Requiem who also released a cd on Crimethinc. Besides these splits, they have a split with Gehenna (i have a copy, but the sound is super thin/tin sounding. im gunna see if a better version exists), the "Passion" album i mentioned, another album named "Samsara" & some assorted demos/ep's. All in all, there's plenty to be found.
I included the splits in their full state, with Newborn & Newspeak's tracks as well. Newborn are really good as well and worth a complete listen. Heavy as well, they mix in some clean vocals and elements that remind me of older screamo at times. Newspeak have a heavy fast sound, but it leans more towards screaming and thrashing around than Catharsis or Newborn. I guess, more of an overall screamo feel than Newborn.
Enjoy!
Catharsis / Newborn - Split (download)
Catharsis / Newspeak - Split
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2 comments:
The Catharsis track on the Newspeak split sounds like its the same as the ones on their split with Gehenna...strange.
This blog is great! Thanks for all the posts!!
@cda It is the same track.
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