Unitron Kittie - Safe EP

"Safe" is the second EP from groove/thrash/death/alternative metal band Kittie. Released in-between Oracle and Until the End, Safe is an EP of mostly live versions of Oracle songs. There is also a radio edit and KMFDM remix of the title track.

The live tracks are of stunning high quality, showing me that the band have quite the live performance. "No Name" gets sped up, turning into a total thrash assault. "Severed" is loud and brutal. It's a bit faster, but mostly stays close to the studio version. "What I Always Wanted" is another sped up track, sounding even more punishing than the studio version. Finally, the EP closes with the fantastic performance of "Pain". The few clean vocals that are in the song sound stellar here, along with the growls and snarls.

The radio edit is self-explanatory, an already four minute long song too long? Let's shorten it by only 15 seconds, because that apparently that makes it radio-playable. Despite KMFDM being one of my favorite bands, the remix of "Safe" really is kind of odd. The added industrial elements just don't fit into the soft melancholy sound of the original. The live version of "In Winter" is okay, but I prefer the studio version as the vocals are a bit better.

Want a live companion to Oracle? This certainly acts as a nice companion. Highly recommended for fans of Oracle or even just great live performances. Hope you found this review helpful.

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Unitron Kittie - Oracle

Oracle is the second studio album from groove/thrash/death/nu metal band Kittie. After the success of their debut album, instead of following in the wake of their success, Kittie went even heavier. It's like Obituary through a nu metal filter, or vice-versa.

As soon as the album opens with the title track, you're given crushing sludgy grooves and deep growls. This sets the stage for the majority of the album, with a bit of variation mixed in with some of the tracks. The title track, "Mouthful of Poison", "Severed", "Pain", "Wolves", and "No Name" all feature monstrous grooves, the latter speeding up to thrash at the end and some of them having killer descending death metal guitar licks. There are also a few Alice in Chains-esque alternative metal tracks that mix that sound with the groove/death of the majority of the album. The 10-minute "Pink Lemonade" has some drone/sludge elements to it, and "Safe" provides a dreary melancholy break.

I must give mention to the cover of the Pink Floyd classic, "Run Like Hell". I love it when bands make a song their own when covering it, and they certainly do here. It turns into a crushing groove metal song with colossal double-bass drumming and a distorted guitar solo. I love the original, as it's one of my favorite Floyd songs, but I love hearing it done metal-ized.

Just like everything I've mentioned so far, everything else has improved immensely from the debut. Vocally, you get deep growls and melancholy clean vocals. There are tons of killer riffs, and the drums pack so much punch that you can sometimes feel the reverb.

While it's typical of later albums to improve on debuts, creating a complete masterpiece after a very mediocre debut is quite the feat. This is a classic in my book, and perfectly balances out a main sound with enough variation to keep it interesting. Highly recommended for any groove/death fans. Hope you found this review helpful.

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Time Signature Time never heals...

Genre: power-thrash metal

Kittie are often described as an alternative metal band, or a nu metal band, but "I've Failed You" is an onslaught of dark power-thrash which definitely does not fail.

The album starts out with the uptempo thrash 'I've Failed You' which is followed by a string of mainly midtempo tracks that combine power metal and thrash metal, although there are also a couple of heavy tracks and uptempo tunes as well. While there are alternative metal elements on the album, mostly in the form of Alice-in-Chains inspired clean choruses (a lot of the vocals are harsh and growled though), I hear no nu metal- elements whatsoever (there's no rapping, no hip hop elements, and most of the tracks have guitar solos).

In terms of musicianship, the ladies in Kittie show that they are skilled rock musicians. The rhythm guitar picking is very precise as is the drumming, while the guitar solos have a lot of blues feel to them.

This is all out metal, and, if they can live with the harsh vocals, "I've Failed You" should appeal to fans of power-thrash metal as well as fans of modern extreme metal (they should have no problems with the harsh vocals of course) and fans of alternative metal.

I have tried to avoid the issue of gender, because I think that it is irrelevant to the music, but, if the Mythbusters ever set out to investigate the myth that girls can't rock, all they needed in order to bust that myth would be one spin of this album.

AtomicCrimsonRush This is where Kittie became Kittie litter for me. Sadly the sound became distorted drivel, like punks on acid, angry, and bitter. The debut and second album were great but the whole novelty wore thin. There is only so much female growling I can stand. Like Astarte, the band look beautiful but they sound like demons possessed.

The banshee vocals are nauseating at times and they love to curse and get angry about the abuse, violence and death in their lives. Highlights are Look So Pretty, Until the End, In Dreams, Burning Bridges and Into the Darkness. But even these do not measure up to Charlotte or Spit from the debut, or Run Like Hell and Oracle, among their best tracks. This was the last Kittie album I could endure unfortunately.

AtomicCrimsonRush The all girl metal queens return on their second album with even more aggressiveness though the novelty of girls screaming with devastating thrash blasts is wearing thin for me. They still look and sound fantastic, the bass heavy distortion and riffing on every track slaughters anything I have heard from all girl bands including Girlschool. This does not make them better than Girlschool, as I like hearing that they are girls, the soft vocals along with crunching metal riffs are stunning. However Kittie push the limits when they begin growling and its even worse on this release than the debut. She sounds like she’s been gargling gravel, and its not a pleasant sound hearing the vomit laden vocals spew forth from her female lips.

My wife hates hearing these girls and I can see why, so I have had to confine them to earphones. They are like Astarte looking like precious little sweet things and then blasting out intense crashing guitar and angry death metal growls. They roar out the songs and only occasionally use the softer vocal technique that I enjoyed on their debut. I was disappointed that there was so much growling it gave me a headache. Highlights on this are Oracle, Run Like Hell (a wonderful rendition of Pink Floyd’s classic), Pain, Pink Lemonade and Safe. Not as good as the debut, but still has some shining moments, I listen to Run Like Hell often, perhaps more than the original version; its an absolute killer.