Kittie

It’s called “Career Suicide,” and in merely four mind-altering minutes, it mauls every pre-conceived notion we might have about heavy metal. Sure, vocals purge the proceedings like a possessed demon fighting for control, the bottom-end swaggers with a thick groove and bludgeoning blasts, and guitars rally around the musical inferno like stinging lacerations. But what sets “Career Suicide” apart are the melodies that lace the litany of sound and fury. For Kittie, it’s that melody that makes Until the End the culmination of years of blood, sweat and fear, the crowning achievement of a career that has seen sales of nearly one million records – Their debut Spit has been certified gold in America, selling an additional 100,000 copies overseas, while follow-up Oracle approaches the same plateau, making the London, Ontario-based quartet one of the preeminent forces on the modern metal scene. Their successes not withstanding, Kittie aren’t about to rest on their well-deserved laurels.

“This album really defines who we are now, and where we always should have been,” says frontwoman Morgan Lander of their third release for Artemis Records. “For me, this really does feel like the first album of the brand new Kittie. As much as the first two albums count, they really don’t for me. This is a completely different band, and we’re in a completely different place musically. We wouldn’t be where we are if those albums didn’t happen, but this a new beginning for us…It’s all new again.”

It’s been years since the release of Oracle in November 2001, and a lot has happened to, and around Kittie. And it all left its mark on Until the End. While the band is the brainchild of sisters Morgan and Mercedes Lander, bassist Jennifer Arroyo has solidified her place in the band, while newcomer Lisa Marx, formerly of Seattle’s To See You Broken, has officially joined the band as a second guitarist. “I believe that everything happens for a reason, and if we had some of the members that were originally in the band, at this time, we wouldn’t have been able to make Until the End,” says Morgan. “We had to go through all those emotional ups and downs in order to create music that totally reflects how we feel now. We’ve all become better players and, individually, we’re all different pieces of the puzzle that makes Kittie – You have to have some changes in order to learn and grow.”

“Seriously, if we hadn’t gone through the member changes, our albums would all sound like Spit,” adds Mercedes, the quartet’s drummer. “We didn’t want that, but you’re not going to grow if other people don’t want to grow, that’s the bottom line.”

Kittie have toured with Slipknot, co-headlined the Ozzfest sidestage with Soulfly, shared the stage with Pantera on one of the band’s final tours, and have given the world of heavy metal a blinding kick of female fury. They are unrelenting, unleashing a sonic slam of sludge, grudge, doom-laden metal and molten melodies, a blitzkrieg that they’ve captured on disc with their latest, assaulting the airwaves with deafening precision, and leaving no room for confusion – Kittie are stronger than ever, building on their musical pedigree, and challenging their artistic evolution.

Schoolgirls Mercedes Lander (drums) and Fallon Bowman (guitar) met in gym class and said, "Let's play together!" And thus, Kittie was born. At least, that's how legend has it, and it's not that far from the truth. Four teenage girls with a love of heavy metal, a desire to prove naysayers wrong, and a passion to rock formed the hard-sounding metal-esque quartet in 1997 while still in high school. One part glam rock and one part death metal, the women of Kittie signed with the NG Records-distributed Artemis Records after a stint of playing covers of Nirvana, Silverchair, and even Corey Hart. By the time indie record producer GGGarth had gotten ahold of their demo, they had graduated from teen pop to pushing their sound up a notch along the likes of L7 and Godsmack. The debut full-length, Spit, showcasing their incisive sound, was released late in 1999 with Lander's sister Morgan picking up vocals/guitar and Talena Atfield (replacing Tanya Candler) on bass. The album was eventually certified gold and the Paperdoll EP followed a year later. In 2001, they released Oracle, their second full-length, followed by the Safe EP, which featured six live tracks, two versions of the title track, and an enhanced video of three cuts from a different live show. Various lineup shifts occurred, and the release further featured new bassist Jennifer Arroyo. 2004 saw the release of Until the End. More lineup shifts occurred (Arroyo left in early 2005 to join Suicide City), and by 2006, Kittie comprised the Lander sisters alongside guitarist Tara McLeod and bassist Trish Doan, formerly of the Ontario bands Sherry and Her, respectively. ~ Roxanne Blanford, All Music Guide