I remember in the summer of 1993, the big talk of the U.S. punk scene was Avail. They were awesome live, but all their records up until that point were pretty weak. Nothing they’d released had done a really good job of capturing their live energy. Then Dixie came out and Avail became the big shit of the ‘90’s. Dancing for Decadence is The Sainte Catherines’ Dixie. Finally, an album that is as dynamic and powerful as seeing them live. Imagine Tragedy playing Leatherface songs with catchy, anthemic choruses a la Strike Anywhere, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of where these six French-Canadians are coming from. Hugo’s lyrics straddle the line between personal emo-ish stuff and social statements calling the scene out on its shit, but always with enough intelligence to not sound cheesy. The three guitars are just different enough from one another to create a warm, dark melodic texture, but without losing their bite. I’m so glad The Sainte Catherines finally have a good recorded representation of how awesome they can sound. This band is gonna get fucking huge, so you might wanna get in on the ground floor and get this now.
–ben (Fat)