Jason Heller mentioned Catharsis in last month’s edition of Fear of a Punk Decade – a series where he revisits the punk/hardcore/emo explosion of the ’90s year by year.

Many groups released hardcore albums on the fringe in 1997, from Capitalist Casualties’ scathing A Collection (courtesy of Slap A Ham) to the Southern-fried sludge of Rise And Fall by Damad (which would birth the metal band Kylesa in the coming millennium). But the best of the bunch were Catharsis’ Samsara —a bleak, brutal statement of bestial hardcore— and His Hero Is Gone’s opening one-two punch, Fifteen Counts Of Arson and Monuments To Thieves.

Most of the article is about emo and pop punk bands; Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, Hot Water Music, etc… But it’s a good read, and a good series too. Check it out.