Carl Begai

By Carl Begai

It was only a matter of time until Kittie got their ducks in a row and began tearing the heads off ‘em one by one.

The band’s new outing, In The Black, is a metal album. Raw and uncomplicated, eerily reminiscent of Carcass (listen through a few times and the similarities are a shot in the arm), it’s the last thing anyone expected from a band considered nothing more than teenage nu-metal aggression junkies when they made their debut 10 years ago. To their credit, sisters Morgan (vocals, guitars) and Mercedes Lander (drums) have yanked Kittie a little further out of that hole with every new album, finally getting away from their early one-dimensional sound entirely in 2007 on Funeral For Yesterday. Fans may argue the point, some certainly favour the band’s old sound over the new, but the haters will be forced to concede that In The Black has a solid steel backbone and gives Kittie a truckload of credibility on today’s metal scene.

“This is the album we always wanted to make,” states Mercedes. “With the last record, I think the songs were there but the production wasn’t. It was pretty fucking bad production. Every album we’ve done we’ve used analog tape, but it wasn’t the analog that was the problem on Funeral For Yesterday; it was the way we recorded it. We didn’t have a lot of say in it and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to. This new album, we did it blind with nobody sticking their fingers in it. We did it by ourselves.”
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Creativity is a wonderful thing. Whether it’s writing prose or poetry, painting, music, putting little bottles in little ships in bottles, being able to take a thought or an idea and bring it to life is impressive and quite often an inspiration to others. It is not, however, an exact science. Not everyone has the ability to create and succeed. Not everyone should take a stab at 15 minutes of fame, or even 15 seconds. YouTube offers more than enough proof of that.

I recently discovered the negative truth about creativity and inspiration first hand. Nineteen minutes of gut-churning tongue-biting agony served up from the back of a bus by the Three Stooges and an acoustic guitar.
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It’s a strange day in hell when a band bridges the gap between Dimmu Borgir and Voivod. Ana Kefr’s debut succeeds in doing just that; a vicious stand-alone conceptual piece featuring an uncompromising and ultimately unique sound in spite of the comparisons drawn. The Death Cult Armageddon vibe over top an instantly recognizable Voivod thrash and clatter is a shock to the system as lead-off track ‘The Day That Guilt Turned White’ gathers momentum, to the point that one wonders if Shagrath and Away were conscripted for the recordings. Dynamics reign, however, as Ana Kefr churn out what is quite possibly one of the most captivating listening experiences of the year, never remaining in one place too long yet smart enough to keep things simple and to the point. (continue reading…)

Theatre Of Tragedy have always been good for a surprise. From ditching all growling vocals from their repertoire following a smash hit breakthrough album (Velvet Darkness They Fear), to going from doom-goth to electronica (Musique and Assembly), to firing singer Liv Kristine in 2003, to returning to their goth roots with a new female vocalist (Storm) the band has lived, breathed and occasionally died at their own hands for over 15 years. That said, fans are likely expecting something off-kilter to happen on Forever Is The World, but no one could have predicted male singer Raymond Rohonyi’s growls to return following years of swearing it would never happen. (continue reading…)

Back in 2003 Strapping Young Lad toured Europe supporting Fear Factory, and being the diehard SYL fan it was a no-brainer I’d take in at least one show and do some press while I was there. The fact that frontman Devin Townsend and I had been crossing paths and doing interviews since 1995 – including a memorable evening at a pseudo-posh Hawaiian restaurant in 1998 ordering up overpriced food and drink that the label paid for – made it a necessary visit, if only to say hello.

A late afternoon interview was scheduled but Devin chose to get some very necessary sleep before the gig, leaving guitarist Jed Simon, drummer Gene Hoglan and bassist Byron Stroud to play hurry-up-and-wait with me. We traded the latest tour, album and industry info until word finally came down that Dev would be available after the band’s set instead. Thus, after double-checking all the necessary guest list arrangements, I made my exit so as not to wear out my welcome.

On the way out through the back door of the venue I encountered a fellow journalist – an assumption (foolishly) made based on the camera bag over his shoulder – and his well endowed eye candy. An inexperienced fellow judging by the way he was waiting around for someone to magically appear and say “Come on in, Dood!” as opposed to simply going in and looking for the tour manager. Not my problem, I decided, but as I walked past – offering a courteous nod to him and his woman’s attributes – he flagged me down.

“Excuse me? Do you know if Al is around?”
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