Kittie Albums (4)
What The Critics Say
Heavy metal may morph, contort, and willfully insert itself into every genre that uses amplification, but it always remains true to its fetish for maximum decibels. For the most part, Ontario-based metal outfit Kittie's fifth offering feels a lot like their first four. The band's tried-and-true formula of Metallica-sized riffing, death metal wailing, and choruses that sound like Heart's Nancy Wilson fronting Norwegian greasepaint rockers Dimmu Borgir, has proven to be more than effective, earning the continuously ferocious, all-female quartet a loyal following both at home and overseas. In the Black should do little to dilute that success, as it plays to the band's strengths while pushing the envelope just enough to cry progress. 2007's Funeral for Yesterday showed the group at their most commercial, cranking out hard-hitting slabs of Godsmack-style, midtempo brooders with hooks a plenty, whereas In the Black takes more chances, carving serpentine melodies through mountains of double-kick percussion and fat, dual-guitar/bass leads. Guttural, death metal vocals are the great equalizer in metal music, and Morgan Lander can shriek with the best of them (which she does throughout most of the record). Her clean vocals are more confident this time around, and when given a decent melodic cue (which are unfortunately few and far between), she could stop a freight train (or at least divert it into a mountain pass). In the Black may break little ground for the group, but it certainly fortifies what they've been standing on for the last decade. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Anyone who's spent time on the hypnotizing bore that is Canada's highway 401 knows that the only antidote to waking up in a Tim Horton's parking lot is a stack of blisteringly loud records. Kittie, the London, Ontario, heavy metal sisterhood have turned up the amps to 11 and delivered their heaviest batch of songs to date with the road-ready Until the End. Steve Thompson's (Korn, Anthrax) bottom-heavy production and the addition of second guitarist Lisa Marx have had a profound effect on the band's overall sound, resulting in an aural experience that goes straight to the gut. The brutal opener, "Look So Pretty," features singer Morgan Lander doing terrifying things with her throat -- it's somewhere between an emaciated alley cat fighting off the neighborhood skunk and the squelch on a walkie-talkie. "Career Suicide" finds the group in a more melodic mood, balancing the snarling verses with a clean chorus vocal, though this balance works best on the brooding title cut. While siblings Morgan and Mercedes Lander's songwriting has improved since 2001's Oracle, there's still an air of mediocrity to later tracks like "Loveless" and "Burning Bridges" that shows an adherence to formulaic modern metal clichés, and a lack of confidence on some of the vocal takes that makes some of the songs sound like demos. Until the End isn't a big step forward for Kittie, but it's a step nonetheless, and if they can find a way to more creatively disperse their newfound power they'll be unstoppable. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Kittie returns from their debut album much, much angrier than before. In fact, despite the first album's aggressive tone, the band spews venom over the tracks with a brutal passion on this one. That does not always translate into great songs, as the disc opener, "Oracle," proves with its repetitive pounding that definitely sounds angry, but sounds pointlessly angry. But it can work in their favor on tracks too, like the Pantera-esque "Severed," which bubbles over with rage. The alternative rock of "In Winter" changes the pace a little with its smooth vocals and slow riffing, as does the piano metal dirge "Safe." Their cover of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" takes the driving urgency of the original and turns it into a Metallica-style riff-fest, which comes off as interesting without ever truly getting engaging. The band is definitely heavy and their style of clear vocals over chugging death metal is certainly interesting. But one cannot help but feel mildly disappointed by their sophomore effort. While there are some good songs here, the band still needs to take the next step before they truly start writing great albums. As it is, this is an average album by a promising band who needs to find a distinct identity. ~ Bradley Torreano, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Brandishing a meatier, heavier sound than contemporaries Limp Bizkit and Korn, the London, Ontario quartet Kittie debuted with Spit in late 1999. These 12 emotionally brutal tracks exhibit high degrees of angry, brash, pro-feminist declarations, proving these young women learned well the lessons of predecessors Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and the current reigning queen of angst-rock, Courtney Love. Kittie bites just as hard as the boys, as evidenced in the steely guitar churn of "Brackish" and the caustic burn of "Raven," wherein Morgan Lander's grating vocals shatter all illusions that women can't spew rock venom with the best of them. Borrowing their heavy sound from the familiar strains of '70s metal and tempering it with modern techno breakbeats, Kittie's lyrical assaults rain down mercilessly, making this debut simultaneously retro and progressive in its blunt musical expression. ~ Roxanne Blanford, All Music Guide
