Following on from the two EP releases in 2011/12, Birmingham’s own The Catharsis have released this scathing full length ‘Romance’ packed full of raw, visceral songs. As the low bassline and feedback rings in on ‘Funeral’, the song builds up and finally erupts into a mass wall of distorted guitars. As the instrumental song goes on some rough vocals shout “This is a funeral / loved, loved, lost, never harm again”.
What comes from this full length is a mixture of different sounding songs, the fast and heavy downright visceral songs like ‘Amour’, ‘Dead Man Talking’, ‘Leave Me Here’ and ‘Stray Dogs’ all bring plenty of heavy riffs to the table. As guitars swirl and screech, drums pound and the vocals come through with conviction they really showcase the sheer raw power the band can bring.
The album also brings in a more Cancer Bats sense of guitar sound, the guitar riffs on both ‘Heart Burner’ and ‘Styx’ bring a more catchy and slowed down feel but still pack a massive punch as well. Both songs bring some melodic sensibilities to the album and are two songs that will be easily accessible to new fans. A surprise comes at the end of the latter as a slow acoustic finishes the song off on a sombre note.
The final three songs of the album sound exactly what you’d expect to hear from the band, songs seriously heavy and visceral. ‘Leave Me Here’ showcases some emotional lyrics as frontman Morgan Tedd screams with intensity “No love, no love for me / I’ve given my all but it’s time to leave” clearly drawing on the subject of love and leaving.
‘O’ Recluse’ is packed full of screeching guitars and some simple yet catchy guitar breakdowns. As the bass rumbles halfway through the song the feedback fuelled guitar riffs come in heavy which could cause any pit at a live gig to go crazy. Final song on the album is ‘Romance’ which starts out with a more melodic sounding guitar riff and runs right through the song. Touching upon the situations of life Tedd screams over and over through the final notes of the song “I can’t feel anything anymore”.
The constant heavy guitar riffs on some songs could be seen as abit too samey and the band don’t particularly step outside of the box. But then again why should they because what they do best in is something really impressive and they do it damn well.
What this album shows is that a band like The Catharsis can play some really heavy hardcore music and bring some heavy, visceral music to the UK scene. Having played alongside other music scene heavyweights like Gallows, This Is Hell, Polar and Feed the Rhino the band are surely on the up and up and with an album like this they’ll surely bring in more fans.
3.5/5.
‘Romance’ by The Catharsis is released on 22nd April.
The Catharsis links: Facebook|Twitter
Words by Aaron Wilson (@soundslikeajw)
