Catharsis
Passion


4.0
excellent

Review

by silentstar USER (10 Reviews)
January 25th, 2013 | 113 replies


Release Date: 1999 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Catharsis go loud and angry

Passion seems more or less the correct title for the album. Through its runtime of 36 minutes, the album picks up a pace that goes up and down, letting loose of emotions only to smother them at later times. It is a journey of anger, angst, hatred later turned into defeat, acceptance; it is the representation of human passion.

The first half of the album is filled with hard-hitting riffs, shrieked vocals and the occasional spoken word; a perfect way to capture the inconstant, ever-changing anger. However, it is more about the sum of the parts than the parts themselves; using the instrumentals as a medium, vocalist Brian D antagonizes the world and finds a way to enthrone himself above others. He screams on Panoptikon, “And are you blessed in these days of lifelessness? I'm choking on the rim of your righteousness“. The Panoptikon is a philosophical concept revolved around the observer and the observed, and Catharsis are concerned with destroying the Panoptikon, the unseen observer forcing and limiting people to mere pawns. Catharsis wants destruction, chaos, fire but most of all, they want freedom.

However, as the album approaches its end, the music is noticeably slower, representing the questioning and wait involved with human emotions and thoughts. What has changed between then and now? Where has the fierce, anger-fuelled emotion gone? Catharsis is unsure, so they quickly resort back to it, with Duende representing one of the heaviest moments on the album. But they stop; it is hopeless and all illusions of freedom and choice are but childlike fantasy. Desert without Mirages finds the album dabbling into reggae music, a genre largely associated with the culture of carelessness. Is the change enough or is more needed? Sabbat (French word for Sabbath) opens up with a choir and ends with a choir; loose religious overtones on the song suggest another possible route for Catharsis, a route where acceptance and defeat is seen as a sign of goodwill. The world will burn and there’s no stopping it.

The vague album art reveals the ambiguity behind Passion; with moments of the album fitting in various genres, emotions and contexts, it cannot simply be pinned down to a label or two. Catharsis have all but limited themselves to a point in time; this album is a journey through the reality of a world that finds satisfaction in chains, links and constraints.



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user ratings (77)
4.1
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
HSThomas
January 25th 2013


668 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Good review but my review will be better.

InfamousGrouse
January 25th 2013


4378 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Glad to see that you really enjoyed this dude!

Atari
Staff Reviewer
January 25th 2013


28009 Comments


nice job pos'd

InfamousGrouse
January 25th 2013


4378 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Just tried to add the tracklist for this because it looks untidy but after I click submit nothing happens -_-

silentstar
January 25th 2013


2528 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

the mods have to approve the tracklist first

silentstar
January 25th 2013


2528 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

oh and if someone could give me some albums to put in the "Recommended if you like" list, that'd be great. i don't know many bands in this genre

WeepingBanana
January 25th 2013


11395 Comments


nice review

though i think if you go to "edit my reviews/albums" on your profile and click on this review, you can edit the track list right from there without mod approval

WeepingBanana
January 25th 2013


11395 Comments


oh, and thanks for following through

silentstar
January 25th 2013


2528 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

ah, you're right, edited



InfamousGrouse
January 25th 2013


4378 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

InnocentShadow for recommended I'd go with something similar to



Amebix - Arise!

His Hero Is Gone- Monument to Thieves

Skitsystem - Stigmata

Converge - You Fail Me

HSThomas
April 2nd 2013


668 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

So I heard this album rules...

InfamousGrouse
April 2nd 2013


4378 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

You heard correctly

ViperAces
April 6th 2013


12597 Comments


this is good, but so obscure

InfamousGrouse
April 6th 2013


4378 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

nothing like a good secret

ViperAces
April 6th 2013


12597 Comments


i meant obscure as in weird, like larks or something, but yea this rules

demigod!
April 6th 2013


49628 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

got this dl'd, will prob jam today.

oltnabrick
April 6th 2013


40765 Comments


Don't care

demigod!
April 6th 2013


49628 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

? then why are you commenting

VanSchuldiner
April 6th 2013


659 Comments


Nice rev ... pos'd gotta check this album out

oltnabrick
April 6th 2013


40765 Comments


Wow stfu



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