On disc: Kittie

 
 Until The End
 
- Alex Albrecht -
 
 


 
 In The Black
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 I've Failed You
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 

I've Failed You

(Massacre Records - 2011)



 
 

 

The Canadian all-girl band Kittie is back with I've Failed You, their 6th studio album. And it's the same line-up as on In The Black. They kick off with the title track, a aggressive neo thrash tune. Morgan Lander and her girls offer a more melodic tune with We Are The Lamb, but it's still heavy. Especially the guitars give this one a melodic touch. At Whisper Of Death they present clean vocals and in my opinion this makes the song more interesting. Again it's the melodic guitar play which makes the song more accessible. What Have I Done is slower, almost doomy and due to the clean vocals is showing a different side of Kittie. Partly a bit repetitive... They don't manage to keep the listeners attention, then the song changes and they return to the neo thrash sound - for a bit. A sonic roller coaster ride, but it would have been wise to cut down this one. Then it's time for Empires, a song which is spit in two parts. The first part is presenting acoustic guitar in a folk-ish way and is just a long intro for part 2. For part 2 they speed up again, go full force. A wild aggressive tune with screams and clean vocals. But see yourself!











Songs like Never Come Home combine aggressive riffs, melodic leads with clean vocals. If this is where they are heading for, they make new friends / fans. Even if Morgan Lander's has to work on the melodic vocals..

The opening riff of Ugly make me think of Iced Earth... Its almost like they used some Iced Earth riffing and embedded it in a Kittie track... The closer Time Never Heals is another more melodic tune, even if it doesn't differ a lot from the others, it can shine due to the guitar leads.



It seems that Kittie are changing, but it will take more time - and at least one more album - to see which way they will go. At Come Undone they combine the different sounds and it seems that Kittie is getting more mature. Sure, the songs aren't smash hits and the album is documentation this. I'm not sure, if all their fans will follow their path, but others might discover the Canadian girls.

 

 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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In The Black

(Massacre Records - 2009)



 
 

 

The Canadian all-girl band Kittie is presenting their 5th album which is called In The Black. The new album introduces the new bass player Ivy Vujic.

Slowly they kick off with Kingdom Come, a short guitar instrumental. But then they go full force and head into My Plague. Morgan Lander's growls and screams sound mean and give the song the aggression it needs. Cut Throat was one of the singles and is another guitar-driven song which gets a melodic edge due to the clean vocals. Aggressive guitars, powerful clean vocals combined with growls are dominating Die My Darling... Perhaps a bit too repetitive, but the gang shouts make it easy to join in when they play this one live! At the single Sorrow I Know it's the vocals which do the trick - Morgan Lander's voice is hypnotic. One of my favorites on In The Black! Then they are back with aggressive riffs and mean vocals - Forgive And Forget. Cool guitar solo. Personally I prefer the powerful clean vocals, but the growls or scolding vocals make the songs more aggressive. Now Or Never is heavy and melodic, but also have some aggressive parts. They slow down for Falling Down, a heavy mid-paced track where the clean vocals are up-front and dominating. Partly Lander's phrasing reminds me of Gwen Stefani... Sleepwalking is a melancholy rocker. Towards the end it seems that the songs of In The Black are getting more melodic... It's like the nu metal girlies get more mature... The raw, mean Kittie sound is partly back with Ready Aim Riot, a sonic roller coaster ride! The closer is The Truth which feat. Justin Wolfe (Thine Eyes Bleed). The song starts slowly with piano, but then becomes a mean rocker with melodic guitar leads. No surprise that Justin Wolfe joined Kittie for a song, his band Thine Eyes Bleed is linked to Kittie and their strongest bond of sure is his engagement with Morgan Lander.

The Canadian ladies present varying sounds, they add black metal and death metal elements, some alternative metal sounds - and more. If you found Kittie too one-dimensional in the past, then you should give In The Black a chance.
 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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Until The End

(Artemis - 2004)



 
 

 

The Canadian girlband got a lot attention with their debut album Spit. On disk and even more live they showed their male colleagues that they can rock. Frontlady Morgan Lander is switching between grunts and melodic choruses. They keep their style, even if new member Lisa Marx add some freshness with her guitar play. In my opinion they don't really fit into a genre. They attract fans from different genres and not just because it's a girlband. Lyrically they write about every day life and their own experiences.

Interesting is Into The Darkness which comes in 2 versions - a 'normal' one and a vocal remix. Anyway, the girls offer hardcore influenced metal. Hope they come on tour with this album soon.
 
 










Alex Albrecht
(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)

  
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           ©2008-2014 by Claudia Ehrhardt • E-Mail: contact@ice-vajal.com