When I was younger an acquaintance played for me Catharsis's debut record, "Samsara." I found the record wholesome metalcore but nothing overtly special.
Recently while having a casual chat with Adam of Withdrawal on Facebook, he shot me a Youtube video of the song "Duende" from their second album "Passion."
Once the sprawling seven-minute song was over, I immediately desired the record in full. Its discovery proved to be a pleasure as I asked myself why I had not taken the time to use "Samsara" as a jumping point for "Passion," a vastly superior record. Kind of a kick in the ass to myself since both records were released in the mid- and late 90s, respectively.
"Passion" is perfect, a brand of Holy Terror hardcore that possesses more life than most of its contemporaries, rivaled by only The Banner and Withdrawal. What Catharsis second LP takes away from other, weightier peers such as Integrity and Gehenna, is the apocalyptic grandeur that those bands spew out without a moment's hesitation.
"Passion" fuses aggression with unconventional musicianship, especially considering the at times narrow space in which the hardcore punk genre moves. The 90s served to move hardcore from the uniformity and brotherhood of the 80s straight edge, Youth Crew dominance into the more experimental, darker and esoteric territory.
While I was not a professed "hardcore kid" until my mid-teens, a casual analysis at the annals of hardcore history will serve to notice the trend mentioned above. Most of favorite hardcore records were spawned from the 90s. The majority of Integrity's catalog from the era always has a place on my media players, while the works of Gehenna and Disembodied (dark, not Holy Terror) make frequent rotations.
The fact that has always drawn me to the Holy Terror vein of hardcore is its unabashed attitude towards the religions and world that these bands mean to sonically disembowel. The artists involved have low profiles, sticking to their lavish use of occultism and nihilism.
What "Passion" does is a little of everything. It's certainly not a "nice" record as it makes a point to strip humanity of its grandest comforts, namely government and religions, not surprising giving the group's ties to anarchist group, Crimethinc. But behind this anti-establishment is a hope that mankind will do better, harnessing their minds to create less oppressive wonders. It asks and even outright mocks the listener for complacency and social negligence, demanding them take up arms and brain.
"Samsara," while not as all-around pleasing as "Passion," has the same stand-up-and-fight fervor, affording Catharsis a near flawless discography. As stated on "Samsara":
"Use your heads, humanity.
Take control.
Choose your heaven.
Accept no gods, no masters."
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