Review Summary: Kittens sharpening their claws
I have what you’d call a complicated relationship with Kittie. On paper, they’re the perfect band for me, and yet their music never really clicked that me except for a few songs. For the most part, they’re a band I consider OK, but nothing spectacular, both their early nu metal day and their current heavier, more mature sound. However, there’s one thing I can say about their debut album “Spit”: it may be flawed and immature in many ways, but its imperfections are precisely what I enjoy. And more broadly, it has the messy and visceral quality of nu metal that draws me towards that subgenre.
It's a decent piece of nu metal, even good in some parts. The title track, and first on the album, has a heavy, adrenaline-rising riff and a nice blend of screaming and aggressive singing, with lyrics about Morgan Langer spitting out her hatred for any man who has ever hurt her or other women. She sounds like she’s full of barely contained anger, and about to explode. She explodes with this memorable rant: “Why do I get *** all the time from you men, you are swine!”. Something always bothers me about that part, maybe the lack of subtlety, or because Morgan was too young at the time to convincingly portray a world-weary woman who has been hurt too many times. But with all the screaming and incoherent, over-the-top rants, this song is an accurate portrayal of what an angry person of any age sounds like. I don’t exactly love it, but I think it achieves what it was trying to do.
Other songs show the same wild rage, sometimes with interesting music and vocals, sometimes not. “Charlotte” is a nice, though not great, creepy-sounding nu metal song, about a serial killer and his victim. The lyrics shift a little abruptly from the point of view of the victim to the killer, which can make the song hard to follow, but I like the melancholic, eerie part where Morgan sings “I’m cold, so cold”. However, the ending, where she repeatedly screams “No, no way!” is a little predictable. “Suck” does an even better job with the heavy, sort of creepy riffs, angsty singing and angry screams. It also has a much better repeated screaming ending with the “*** you, you think it’s all free!” part.
Unfortunately, that song is where the album becomes a little repetitive, especially with its riffs, but also with the vocals. “Jonny” has a similar mix of vocal styles, but it’s a rather simple and not that interesting song. “Raven” is another relatively simple but enjoyable song, with a good bass line and a memorable “Get away from me!” chorus. The song becomes more interesting when you learn it’s a response to a guy who sent death threats to Kittie, most likely because he didn’t like sharing the stage with an all-female band. That’s another example of the feminist themes of the album. Because of its sort of feminist message, its grunge-punk riffs and vocal styles, this album feels a lot like a heavier version of bands like L7 or Babes in Toyland, which is why it’s so strange that I don’t enjoy it more. But aside from weaker moments, the album is far from bad, there are more enjoyable tracks to come.
“Tripping” already shows more creativity, with the rapping and screaming and groovy, angry riff. “Do You Think I’m a Whore” shows Morgan really finding her voice, with the speaking, singing and more confident, meaner screaming, used for whole verses rather than a few sentences. This song shows how many different things a good nu metal vocalist needs to be able to do. It takes skill to go so quickly from singing to rapping and screaming, and honestly, I think nu metal singers are not appreciated enough for their efforts.
Now, the two best songs on the album. “Brackish” may be the perfect nu metal song, with its weird riffs and bass lines, mix of singing, speaking, screaming and fast-paced rapping. The lyrics are as confusing as ever with their vagueness, strange metaphors and POV shifts, but I think Fallon’s rap is trying to tell Morgan to leave a bad relationship with someone who can’t give her the support she needs. “Paperdoll” is completely different, completely unclassifiable musically, with its ballad-like yet ominous melody, its sad, almost horrified singing and lyrics about a woman who is abused by everyone, treated as little more than a doll, but “wants you to eat her pain”, as Morgan sings with despair on the outro. This song feels like the perfect conclusion to the album, the best example of Kittie’s sound and message. This and “Brackish” feel like breaths of fresh air compared to the album, they make me say, wow, Kittie is actually good, why can’t they make more songs like that?
Kittie is a band I don’t hate at all, just one I only enjoy when I’m in the right mood. In many ways, this is the typical debut, full of beginner’s mistakes but also of potential. If anything, I enjoy it for its heavier Babes in Toyland sound and its occasional great moments, even if Kittie’s career evolved in a completely different direction. Once again, you see all the different influences brought into the nu metal sound. I’d even say that Kittie is one of the first bands to combine all the elements we associate with nu metal (singing, rapping, screaming, occasional electronics, grungy and groovy riffs, angst and rage, a slightly creepy sound, a punk/goth/metal look, even the weird titles and lyrics), which is when nu metal stopped being a loosely connected bunch of similar but unclassifiable bands, and became an actual sub-genre. In other words, when it became somewhat formulaic, which unfortunately describes a lot of this album. I’m also not sure this album is as good as some of the bands it could be compared to, as the other nu metal albums I’ve reviewed before. But it’s still an interesting album, it’s good to have a few flawed albums in this series, and I always have more to say about albums I gave mixed feelings about. Of course, next reviews the series will involve better albums, or maybe not.
