Ambitiousness doesn’t always equate to magic in or out of the studio, but Vicious Kitty does a pretty awesome job reminding us all of the power of hard work in their heavy-handed new album Vicious Kitty. A goliath in a year filled with underwhelming metal and rock efforts, Vicious Kitty fills in the premise of the band’s sound rather marvelously, but if you were expecting this band to make a copy of their predecessors’ efforts in this solid introduction to the mainstream, you’re in for quite a surprise with its ten-part tracklist. This is a record profoundly more progressive and gripping than its contemporaries, taking elements of metal and classic rock to a more melodic place than a lot of listeners will be anticipating.
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The vocal presence is the embodiment of emotion in “Sweet Memories” and the throwback “Freedom,” but this isn’t solely because of the role our singer is given in the arrangement of these two songs alone. There’s no denying the volume of his voice in both instances, but the breakable tone of the strings in the backdrop is made to be intentionally flexible, emphasizing the potency of this harmony naturally. This is a fat-free rock outfit, and you can tell as much just in a casual listening session with Vicious Kitty.
Eclectic song structures don’t do much to hinder the tonal value in the detailed “No More Waitin’,” “Looking Glass,” as well as “Alone” or even “Mr. Darkness.” A memorable work in “Spank Me” would have come off as over the top had it not been afforded the same gruff cosmetic finish everything else here sports, and to my great pleasure, the tracks flow into one another without ever skipping a beat. It’s implied that we’re supposed to hear Vicious Kitty as a complete album, but with producing like this, it’s even harder to get up from it once you get started.
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The fluidity between the players in Vicious Kitty is something that could leave a lot of the competition green with envy, and given how unforced they relate to each other in performances of “Innocent Girl” and “Bangkok City,” I’m surprised they haven’t been spotlighted more for this specific reason. Anyone can assemble a group of smart musicians for some shared time in the recording studio, but getting artists who can read each other as proficiently as this bunch can take more of a divine action than most of us are willing to acknowledge. It’s epic, and it’s unsullied by robotic bells and whistles in this album.
There’s just no doubt about it – Vicious Kitty is one of the more forward-leaning hard rock works I’ve heard this month, and a great pick among plenty of true metal circles as well. The best part about this tracklist is how it grips us into sitting through every song intently from start to finish while also inviting the cursory cherry-picking session often reserved more for retrospective compilations exclusively. Vicious Kitty is on top of their game, and in this self-titled effort, make a case for international exposure I have to endorse.
Clay Burton