Cathode, a machine that never falters – CD

Damn, here’s some raging hardcore/punk from Holland that’s chock full of dissonance that adds a really dark and ominous edge to their songwriting. Similarities could be cited to a few other bands (I’d definitely mention Catharsis), but for the most part I actually think these guys are pretty creative and have a little of their own sound going on. There are a good variety of tempos going on and you can pick up on everything from somewhat traditional hardcore or D-beat leanings to noisier and more caustic picking patterns, some stuttered rhythms and chunkier metallic influences, etc. The vocals are also really solid shouts with a burly texture that sounds a little bit different from the norm as well, so overall this is an energetic and forceful set of songs that hits pretty hard. “Sincere Lifetime” is barely over a minute and has some of the more straightforward chord progressions involved, while “Sabot-age” is much more twisted and varied in its tempo changes and less direct performances. “Vernal Desire” has one distorted bass break with swells of guitars before building back in with thunderous percussion and caustic chords leading into the explosive and frenetic “An Art Worth Living”, though it’s worth mentioning that almost all of songs contain slower passages that are bleaker and really help accentuate the faster playing a great deal. “Dead-End-Road” is the longest track at more than five minutes, opening with a sample and a quick doomy intro before reverting to blasting speeds and acerbic chords, but later drops back to layers of discordant guitar notes and fluid basslines with spoken vocals that add a nice change of pace for the end of the disc. I’m also digging the recording, which possesses just the right amount of rawness but still sounds rather heavy. The bass tone is really thick and allows the fast basslines to have their own space, the vocals and guitars are the dominant elements at the forefront, and the percussion sounds nice and natural. There’s room for improvement, but for this general style and the rugged aesthetic that comes along with it I think they’ve done an awesome job. The layout is all done in black and white and looks pretty good. Since the CD was released by a group of Brazilian labels they’ve even translated all of the text (including the lyrics) into Portuguese in addition to English, which is a nice touch. As one might expect the lyrics are pretty bleak, and I find them to be far better than average for this style of music. While hinting at larger messages, they do so creatively and leave things open for interpretation rather than beating anything into the ground: “Twilight dissolves, in night, forever for us, Our hearts need more than plastic fortune and emptiness, So detect the presence of blinded truth, And ascend the walls of illusion…” Very nice. This is a hard hitting EP and I’ll definitely want to hear more from Cathode in the future. All elements of this release point to bigger and better things for these guys, so keep an eye out. I’m surprised I haven’t heard more about this band already. (7/10)