So, the “hiatus” as it ended up being dragged on a lot longer than I expected, and I’ve unfortunately got to take you back to the Covid years for this…
I have been meaning to put this into writing since we re-emerged in September (Christ, that long ago already???) but I have been overwhelmed by the support from our favourite indie labels providing us with amazing content to check out. So thank you to Cruel Nature Records and ,naturally, Qoheleth who drove me to want to return to writing three times until finally happened.
So, what happened? Well, a very busy year initially. I was studying through the year prior to our disappearance, which was fine until I had to switch to the evening course. With the bump up in level and having to keep it up around work as opposed to within, it was immediately became too much.
On top of this, Cauteriser was constantly reaching new heights and I became overwhelmed by the amount of personal requests flooding in, which were the ones I never ignored (sorry PR people!), but 3 a week became impossible and I quickly learned why no other reviewers were promising to cover everything like I was.
It was tough, and with my previously discussed mental health struggles I ran myself into the ground and didn’t cope too well. Then before I had a chance to pull myself together, Covid hit. Honestly, the shut down of society was nice at first, for someone with severe social anxiety at least, but just like everyone else it took its toll and I fell back into alcoholism, which was something I obviously played ignorance to.
You might assume this story would have another twist here, but there wasn’t, that became life. Until I found one small spark of confidence to try and meet people, in which my now fiancé appeared out of nowhere. And that pretty much brings us to now (again, that long!)
That said, my time isn’t what it used to be. Obviously not spending every evening and weekend alone, nor being in a job I despise so much that I draft reviews to kill the time, means reviews are one a week at best. But said fiancé has three non-functioning kidneys, so is on dialysis (a.k.a. life support) for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week. It’s rough and has lots of medical complications around that so a surprise could be around any corner.
In short, promises are tough to keep and 1 week can become 3 in a flash. But the key note of this is that Cauteriser is back and covering as much as it can, but realism has set in and I am being as fair as I can with what comes in. If I could do this full time, I would, but life, and all of the stuff Pound Land said.
It feels great to be back. Cauteriser has never made a penny, but writing honest opinions of the great music we receive and seeing the reactions from the artists makes every hour worth it. Commercial music is fucking awful and being a voice for the DIY is everything to me, so heres’ to hoping I can get a few more years in before my next mental breakdown!
Thank you all for the incredible support and immediate welcome back. Cauteriser is my favourite thing that I have done with my life and I want it to go as far as I can take it. Even though I’m shit with anything social.
You may have also noticed we are trying to make the website nicer. Work in progress, within the limitations of WordPress.
The Cauteriser 
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