We Are Anti Nazi, Anti National War

Kathode played crusty, grindy, hardcore-influenced death-ish metal. The few onlookers that discover this band these days will probably do so through the association with Andrew WK (and may find it amusing that he played drums on such an obscure and extreme band). In truth, Kathode was a good band during their brief existence. Their 1996 demo was a savage amalgam of death/grind/crust/hardcore and even had some melodic black metal elements (years before such combinations were commonplace).

The band also released this seven-inch the same year, I have no idea whether this came out before or after the demo, but it certainly sounds less evolved and interesting, and the production suffers in comparison. The songs here seem to lack the black metal elements that appeared on the demo. “Fools Die” has those tremolo-picked evil sections, but they are barely audible in the mix. There are two songs here that appeared on the demo (“BZ” and “Stripmined”), but they were my least favourite songs on the demo. Most of these songs blitz past with some grindy hardcore anger (similar to Unruh). There is lots of speed and blasting (though “Paste” has a nice sludgy section), but even the more chaotic parts are hampered by a dreadful mix that blunts the incisive metallic riffs.

There is a lack of transcendence here and few moments that I can get hooked on, as a listener. The music is precise and interesting, and the band had energy and quality by the truckload, but this record doesn’t give the best impression of the band’s strengths. The overall package doesn’t speak to me with the same clarity as the demo. You would be much better off listening to the demo and appreciating it for its evil extremity. I'm not sure I'd bother checking this record out unless I was an avid seven-inch record collector type, which I am not.