The Catatonics – Hunted Down – Reissue Review

The Catatonics – Hunted Down

Southern Lord

LP – DL

Out Record Store Day 2022

The first Hardcore band from Syracuse and Central New York, The Catatonics Hunted Down EP is considered one of the first hardcore thrash/metal crossover releases. Reissued for the first time in decades along with extra tracks by Southern Lord the vinyl copy will be available on Record Store Day 2022. Fighting Boredom have been listening to it, read what we thought below.

This is pure unadulterated Hard Core Punk, with capitol letters, it’s from the school of Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains and the million other bunches of kids making a beautiful noise across the U.S. and beyond. A reissue of one of those holy grail singles that you can’t get without selling your soul nowadays. It’s guitar drums and bass locked in hard, creating fast directed blasts of violence. You can feel the sweat and cigarette smoke in the tiny rooms they would have played in, you can feel the crash of stage divers on your head and the swinging fists of the dancers. It’s bruising and angry. Still fresh, against all the odds, it still feels relevant and ice cold. Probably because kids always need to battle their friends to music that hurts. Plus some people never move away from it. This music is pure adrenalin and the rush of blood as the guitars come in never ceases. The first few songs from the EP are the reason to buy this. The rest is rough. Live tracks and what sounds like cassette recordings of songs.

They were the first Hard Core band in Syracuse New York State and split just when things were starting to happen. But that left this excellent single and collection of tracks behind. A must for anyone who’s ever thrown themselves off a stage as kids create a racket behind them.

The Catatonics are on Facebook and have a Bandcamp page.

All words by Adrian Bloxham.

Adrian Bloxham

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