Endpoint

Endpoint was the definitive Midwestern hardcore band throughout most of the '90s, leading the charge for progressive, positive, empowering politics with uplifting, cathartic anthem after anthem championing the oppressed and the free-thinking rights of the individual. Their sound evolved from moshable, singalong-inducing hardcore heavily influenced by the coastal straight-edge scenes and skate rock into moving, more mid-tempo heavy indie core of a more intellectual variety. The band was formed in the late '80s by Louisville natives Rob Pennington, whose soulful crooning and high pitched wails defined the band's sound, and guitarist Duncan Barlow after the dissolution of their Deathwatch project. In 1989, they released a mini-album on cassette only (later reissued on CD by Doghouse) through the Slamdek label, called If the Spirits Are Willing, that also featured the talents of Rusty Sohm (drums) and Jason Graff (bass). Endpoint's next move after securing a new drummer named Lee Fetzer and second guitarist Chad Castetter, was to release an album called In a Time of Hate through California's Conversion label. The band then signed a deal with a then-fledgling Doghouse Records that would eventually help Endpoint become a centerpiece of the international hardcore scene, and the label grow into the sizeable independent entity it is today. The first album to see the light as a result of this partnership was 1992's monumental Catharsis, arguably the best record of the band's impressive career. The album featured new bassist Kyle Noltemeyer and a collection of the band's most harrowing and heartbreaking yet alternately inspiring songs. That same year, Endpoint released an EP of covers similar to Metallica's Garage Days, paying tribute to Embrace, Rites of Spring, Malignant Growth,...