G&P Review: Catheter

Catheter
Southwest Doom Violence
Selfmadegod
Unlike forerunners/contemporaries Phobia, mile high grind trio Catheter have never given into the sheeny, shiny modern production impulse. Southwest Doom Violence, their first full length since 2005's Dimension 303, is a time capsule of that big, burly '90s grind sound, before everything became sleek and overcompressed.
There are still potholes and jagged edges to Catheter's sound that serve their appropriately titled album well. Grindcore, doom and power violence get frapped into 17 songs of dismal, gray misery laced with occasional crimson skeins of vein popping outrage. Perhaps the one nod to the 21st century is the fantastic snare drum sound, a nice, solid snap gets its moment to shine on "No Harvest," which briefly spotlights the percussion. With "Doom to Grind" Catheter also snag one of the greatest samples to ever kick off a grind tune.
Catheter are one of the few grind bands that know how to dig into a good down tempo tune without making it sound like a half-assed afterthought too (hence the "doom" in their Southwest Doom Violence). Part of their prowess is that they keep their dreary impulses in check rather than dragging the album to a drug stumble halt (though they do succumb to the five minute doom closer cliche). At their best, Catheter give us great songs like the 90 second "Can't Change Existence," which blasts in the front and then wiggles like a sidewinder on the way out. It's like a grindcore/doom mullet.
Overall, Southwest Doom Violence is a stubborn reminder of what grindcore used to sound like back in an era when its conventions were first being solidified.

[Full disclosure: SMG sent me a download.]

Blast(beat) from the Past: Catheter

Catheter
Preamble to Oblivion
Selfmadegod
2001
The younger siblings to contemporaries like Assuck, Phobia and Excruciating Terror, Catheter were part of America’s second wave of grindcore, playing a crustier, more brutal style that seemed to be a deliberate reaction to the increasingly overproduced and metallic progression of Napalm Death and Carcass.
Though still intermittently active (including an appearance at the recent Maryland Deathfest – for more complete coverage see here and here), Catheter like World Downfall, Phobia and Agathocles before them tend to specialize in EPs and splits, having turned in only two solo longplayers in the last 19 years. Full length debut Preamble to Oblivion was a punk as fuck assault straight from the mean streets of Denver that wore its cred dangling from its wallet chain.
Powered by a Pete Pontikoff-style hardcore bark and rusted Folgers can snare drums songs like the gang chorused “Free Will” are a revolutionary call to arms that should be mandatory listening around the July 4th grill.
Catheter are masters of the elusive ability to imbue dozens of grind songs (SelfMadeGod’s reissue includes 10 bonus tracks) with a distinctive vibe that separates them from the blastbeat pack whether it’s the desert wind dervish of “Halo of Flies,” the brooding drums of “803” and the crackled static bass wall of “Doom Planet.” While Preamble’s blasts get thoroughly beaten, Catheter also swing with the crusty end of the doom continuum reigned over by Grief (“Chad” even swipe’s that band’s loping gait from “Earthworm”). “Korn Biscuit” even crashes to a close with a jazz swing pimp strut.
Repping the 303 since 1997, Catheter’s debut full length is a vital restatement of the punk ethos that drives grind and makes it unique from its metallic cousins. Preamble to Oblivion is just that because everything that came after was laid to waste.