Review of the Album "In the Black" by Canadian Thrash Metal Band Kittie

About the Canadian thrash metal Band Kittie

Kittie is a thrash/death metal band from London, Ontario Canada formed back in 1996. Their 5^th studio album called In the Black released in 2009 is the one that I am most familiar with and the only album of theirs that I have heard so far. The band has sisters Morgan (guitars and lead vocals) and Mercedes Lander (drums). The other guitarist on this album is Tara Mcleod while Ivana “Ivy” Vujic plays the bass guitar. Most of us wouldn’t even think that Canada would be a breeding ground for heavy metal but in recent years it has seen a little rise in that category with bands such as Into Eternity and these women that play in Kittie.

The song called "My Plague" sees Morgan Lander use death metal style growls that make her sound like Angela Gossow. The drumming has good fills as well in this song. But she switches to clean vocals temporarily as the low growl leads to death metal vocals the rest of the song.

My favorite song early in the album is the one called "Die My Darling." The party is over and the casting of the last stone is complete and it is time to witness the end of life for some people. The chorus in this song is the most memorable part of it. The song is a slow, heavy groovy kind of song as Morgan growls the word now before she sings in clean vocal mode for the most part. However, the part where Morgan says the words “I wanna see you burn tonight” are the most passionate parts of the chorus and that’s a sure way to make a great song greater!

The slower song called "Sorrow I Know" has Gothic and progressive elements in it. Sometimes, sorrow takes over a person and it feels like there is no end to this feeling. "Forgive and Forget" makes a return to the Arch Enemy style vocals. The song’s message is a call to rise up against dishonesty and keep our distance form those people that deceive us and try to bring us down. The song Falling Down has some The Gathering and The 3^rd and the Mortal influences as the riffing reminds me of that doom rock feel. In life when we fall down we need a place to rest so that we can gather our thoughts, reflect, and pick up the pieces and resume our life knowing that if we stay down we will fail. "Whiskey Love Song" is a love song about the highs and lows of a romantic relationship. We will love our partner for those nights we can’t seem to remember and hate them for the nights that we want to forget. Our partner has the potential to let us down to the point where we feel like indulging in alcohol until we drown. By this point in the album it is clear that from a musical level, In the Black has no bad songs, it has very melodic singing and the riffs are heavy and crunchy enough to make the album memorable even for 2009 standards. The final score for the album from these fine talented Canadians gets no less than 95 out of 100 points!