Review: Kittie “Until the End” CD

Okay, there's gonna be some rambling in this review, but bear with me here. This isn't the kind of thing I usually cover just because it's on a major label and the band has a goofy reputation of sorts, but I'm reviewing this disc for several reasons, and of course the obvious reason is because this CD is actually fucking good (you heard me, I don't give a fuck)... which also makes me want to point out that the way this band is perceived and perhaps misrepresented isn't fair at all. I'll be the first to admit that what I've heard from this band's first record sucked. Flat out. I didn't like it. I didn't give a fuck who it was coming from, I just didn't like it. I heard a couple of songs from their second disc and was indifferent about 'em. I remember thinking to myself, "Hey, they got better," but I still wasn't that into it. More recently I had heard that they picked up the former guitarist of To See You Broken, a band that I was a fan of, so I got curious... And, what do you know? Say what you want, but this is a good fuckin' record... they got better... again. No, it's not for everyone, and I can understand why some people out there would latch onto a few minor attributes of this material and still toss it off as "nu-metal", but that's not accurate at all. In fact, this is not a nu-metal record. Sorry to burst everyone's bubble. Yeah, it's moderately paced, and sure, they blend singing vocals with aggressive styles. And come on, of course there are weak spots, but face it... there's some good shit here. Opener "Look So Pretty" kicks it off with some massively sludgy riffing that borders on the doomy variety; the title tracks infuses far more melody into the thick midpaced chord progressions and offers up a really strong vocal performance; "Red Flag" opens with a metalcore run that could just as well be at home in a track from the Hatebreed school, with "Sugar" taking a more European metalcore churn to the formula (complete with spoken vocal breaks and a crushing mosh rhythm); "Burning Bridges" is another slower and heavier piece that revisits some of the sludgier influences; "Loveless" cranks the heavy melodies back up with another strong singing performance that makes for the most memorable track on the disc; etc. The lesser moments? The chorus of "Career Suicide" is a little off, and some of the singing towards the end of "In Dreams" isn't so great (though honestly I really like most of the singing vocals a lot throughout the album), while "Into the Darkness", in my opinion, just isn't that great a song... I don't know. The melodic overtones are far more obvious there, and it comes off as strained, the layering of screaming with singing contrasting too greatly and clashing with the music. There's a "vocal remix" of the track tacked onto the end of the disc as well, which is also useless, as the only real difference I can spot is that the "remix" is nine seconds longer, other than that it sounds quite similar. I have no quarrels with the production, really. The tones are all thick and heavy, the drums sound fine, the basslines are prominent and often stray nicely from the guitars, etc. On occasion the singing inches in front of the music and that can become a problem, and a few tracks seem like maybe they're not mastered quite as clearly as the others, but it sounds fine overall. The guitar tone is fucking great, in my opinion. The layout is one aspect I'm not really into here. The artwork isn't bad, it's pretty bleak and the front and back covers are effective, but the inner panels are sort of boring and dull. Also, the typefaces used on the outer packaging are really not a good fit at all, which causes a busy/cramped sort of look that gets irritating. The songs deal with personal emotions and such, nothing new, and they don't do anything for me, but I'm indifferent there. Things could be significantly worse, so fuck it. I'm surprised that I like this, I admit it, but that's probably me unknowingly falling victim to "popular opinion" or whatever. At the end of the day I don't give a fuck what anyone else thinks, and this is a good disc that more people would enjoy if they'd get their narrowminded heads out of their asses and take it for what it is, rather than posturing and worrying about what their buddies would think. I'm into it. Don't buy into all the bullshit, just check it out and make your own decision. If this record was their debut I'd hope they'd have been received differently, so I hope the tide continues in this direction.