February 26, 2002

Kittie : London Camden Electric Ballroom

...there's an aural rage here that doesn't seem to be gender-specific...

A fearsome scream rings out, followed by words so garbled there's little connection to the English language, or indeed any other. Then come severe riffs, scythe-like and dunderheaded, as if to erase the rhythms until all an audience can do is literally feel the noise. If this weren't the controlled environment of a concert in progress, the first reaction to Kittie would be to run away. Very fast.

As things fall, the Canadian trio - who've also added an auxiliary bearded Amish-looking guitarist to deepen the sonic nightmare - merely show what happens when you wander off the Metal map without a compass. And their impossibly young acolytes respond with time-honoured devil-horn salutes.

Perhaps it's the need for Kittie to compete in a boys club of a musical world that has brought things to this pass. Maybe Morgan Lander, her sister Mercedes Lander and Talena Atfield are just metalheads having a well-deserved go at it. Whatever the motivation, there's an aural rage here that doesn't seem to be gender-specific. A cover of Pink Floyd's 'Run Like Hell' is aptly unrecognisable as such. And the riffology of the rifftastic 'What I Always Wanted' is of a very high grade indeed.

Someone from the opposite end of the musical spectrum would probably sum it up best. As rapper DMX
once put it: "It's dark and hell is hot".

Dele Fadele