Kittie..............................Spit.................................2000 .......................Review done by Pandora
Review: After the surge of Grrrl Bands of the nineties displayed a kill or be killed attitude in industrial/punk/hardcore/metal, allow me to introduce Canada's contribution to the cause, a bunch of angry high school grrrls named Kittie. As a girl who did her time in a chick metal band (back in the horrid days of bands like Vixen, thank the gods for bands like Cycle Sluts From Hell and Babes In Toyland), I had to pick this album up. What can I say about Kittie? Four young'ens, new world pubescent Barbarellas per say. The look of them is priceless, the sound unforgiving. PVC and studs all around, bartender.... The first thing that impressed me was the enhance format disk itself, which, when played in your CD ROM drive provides you with a Kittie menu, photoalbum, the video for 'Brackish' and handscrolled lyrics to the first single. Impressive and the vision of the future of music. 'Brackish' itself is somewhat annoying, but I think it's due to the obvious fact the record company brass and producers are milking from breast of Courtney Love, thinking we all want to hear that harpy. The devil-spawn backing vocals and crunchy fretting of guitarist Fallon Bowman are a delight and make the song. Guitarist/Vocalist Morgan Lander, who gets the lead vox reigns in this one, are at times flat out annoying here. Half the time she is much resembling a DYING kittie, with the off-key Courtneyism she is kicking with this. I am glad for them though that the songs DO get better.
The album's opener, 'Spit', is an adranaline charged endorsement for anger management, I enjoyed it thoroughly and would be a pleaser for the fans of brutal heaviness. 'Charlotte' is another pleasure, an even mix between haunting punk/wave. A song like 'Trippin''makes me wonder how many of the bands I watched in garages, shitty, vomit-spackled basement clubs could be famous with the right production. 'Do You think I'm A Whore', shows the potential that the lil' kittens have.
But, All is all, Spit is a impressive debut album, with a few curb-stompers and shows it's eyeteeth, although those teeth are still being cut. The marketing is genius, with Kittie dominating the net in MP3s, video goodies and soundbites. And all fit in before grade twelve Biology class. Grade 8 out of ten.
Pandora