Labels: Phobiact
Review by: Alex Hannan
On their debut 12″ Austria’s CATHOLIC GUILT sprinkle a clean but fast hardcore sound with a silvery shimmer of chorus, hinting at complex harmonies and chords between the cracks of taut and precisely-played punk – in a similar way to mid period HÜSKER DÜ, you can hear thoughtfully tweaked guitar parts under the surface. They whip through ten energetic songs. Their intros and slower parts often show off nimble guitar work – some of the most memorable ideas are found here, like in “Factotum” or “Bygones.”
The lyrics are in English, and well beyond anything I could do in my second language. They remind me of a less obscure JAWBOX somehow – reaching for unconventional turns of phrase or idea to express intense but slightly opaque feelings. “I’ve been descending into madness. A capricious, fear-laden child. The human comedy, the ceaseless tyranny of the majority displayed in a single perfunctory smile.” runs “The Descent” – an example which shows off their attention to the rhythms of the spoken language, the symmetry of a sentence. From opener “Optimism wiped out”: “The small-town dullness makes you shiver to the bone. As if you were forced to spend the rest of your life like an arrant coward in a boys’ choir.” Could someone here be a SMITHS fan?
On this LP the fastest parts are the weakest, for me – some measure of excitement is missing. The vocalist’s speak-sing style comes off as too low-energy there, and I wish they’d put more contrast into the guitar sounds, scruffed up their sound to take the sheen off. I’d be interested to hear some songs where CATHOLIC GUILT let their ideas breathe a bit more, got weirder and wilder – it feels in this case as though musically they’ve edited themselves down to the bone. Still, would definitely turn out to see them live, and will keep an eye on what they get up to next.