Last time I saw KITTIE live and I have to go back a few years to 2002 when they played at Wolverhampton’s Wulfrun Hall, supported by the then unheard of SHADOWSFALL. I don’t recall leaving disappointed and I was looking forward to another blast of female fronted nu-metal tonight.

The first band on stsage tonight wereSYMPHONY CULT who seem to be a fairly generic sounding five piece with female lead and male backing vocals to give the sound some edge, nothing original but not bad at all. Their set was marred by some less that ideal sound, with singer Charlotte Lubbock being barely audible above the drum and bass. But not to despair as you can listen to how they should sound on their single “Speak When Your Spoken To” which I picked up on the night for the bargain price of £1!

LOSING SUN were next on stage in front of the slowly building Central Station crowd, frontman Ben Honebone was completely unfazed by the small turn out and was determined to get the crowd moving. With a fast pace metalcore sound LOSING SUN have some pretty catchy songs, and on stage they certainly come into their own.

In contrast to the SYMPHONY CULT set KITTIE’s sound was spot on and incredibly loud as anyone who frequents the Central Station can testify to. The Welsh must but either slightly deaf or just like their metal even louder than anywhere else. As KITTIE broke into their set opener ‘My Plague’ their was a mini rush to the stage to get a look at the Canadians in action.

As they whirled through the set at a ferocious pace Morgan Lander stopped only briefly to apologise for the six year gap between tours amd promised to come back sooner next time, which the crowd certainly approved of. The bands newest member Ivy Vujic seemed slightly subdued in comparison to Tara McLeod who was obviously enjoying the enthusiastic crowd reaction, making full use of all the stage only standing still for long enough to play a tight albeit short solo.

The songs that stood out for me were the intense ‘What I Always Wanted’, (Morgan can make an impressive death growl combined with Mercedes Landers punishing drumming that proves so well a song doesn’t have to be fast to sound damn heavy!) and ‘Funeral for Yesterday’ which really showed off KITTIE’s evolving sound, with Morgan’s clean vocals a particular highlight of the night.

The encore song ‘Never Again’ off the “Funeral for Yesterday” album really brought the set to a suitably heavy climax. The only criticism I would have of the night (there’s always one) was the absence of their biggest hit ‘Brackish’ and other songs off the “Spit” album, which still has most of their strongest material. KITTIE’s brutal performance lead me to the question when will people start taking them seriously? The answer is probably never, but I don’t see how you can fault their raw sound. An enjoyable night was had.

Ratings:

SYMPHONY CULT Photos