Album reviews Nov 30 2011

Artist: The Great Kat

Albums: Guitar Goddess, Bloody Vivaldi, Rossini’s Rape, Wagner’s War

By: Alex Hipkins

If you took the name of any of these albums and thought that they would be just another modernization to the classical versions you heard in grade school, you would be severely mistaken. Though The Great Kat does perform some classical greats from the likes of Vivaldi, Rossini, and Wagner, it is not the relaxing ride that you would expect from an old world composer. There isn’t a single relaxing groove to be had here. That doesn’t mean in the least that TGK is able to be passed up. Let me break it, her, and this wild ride down for everyone. In doing the four albums, I will just select a song or two from each that are the really
high points.

“Guitar Goddess” is the first contestant. Coming in full swing from its 1997 release, “Guitar Goddess” sets The Great Kat up for her shot into domination. The fast paced nature of the Thrash Speed/Shred Classical group gets the adrenaline pumping on a nonstop drip straight to your core. Rossini’s, “The Barber of Seville”, and Sarasate’s Gypsy violin waltz, “Zigeunerweisen”, are the top picks from the album. Each classical wonder is taken to the deep depths of hell and brought back with a ton of power and more thrash than anyone could expect. The album is a must listen, even for the casual music fan.

Coming in next, from the year 1998, is “Bloody Vivaldi”. It starts out with the most hardcore version of Vivaldi’s, “The Four Seasons”, that the mind could imagine. It keeps a fanatical pace that makes the blood boil and the heart thump against the inside of the ribs. Even if the first album wasn’t your cup of tea, this one with its cover of two classical greats and two originals, will get anyone up and ready for the day, and maybe amped for a brawl with flesh eating zombies. It is definitely another album to listen to. On a side note, Sarasate’s “Carmen Fantasy”, off of the album gives a rush that makes you think
of becoming the next American psycho.

The year 2000 brought us “Rossini’s Rape”. At the very start of the album, you are suckered into thinking that you will have a nice, calm time while kicked back listening to some tunes. Just a few seconds in, and TGK’s version of Rossini’s, “William Tell Overture”, will have you back on your feet and ready to rumble. Something about the fast paced kick and underlying grind just makes the body want to cause some damage. Bazzini’s, “The Round of the Goblins”, keeps the feeling going as the album ends out. Over all the other reviewed albums today, this one gets the Writer’s Choice award and is definitely going onto the good ol’ mp3 player.

To end the review out, and the set of albums recently added to iTunes for The Great Kat, is 2002’s “Wagner’s War”. In the slowest pace TGK offers, the album starts off with, “The Ride of the Valkyries”. The most memorable song on this hard-hitting sucker punch of shredded classical mayhem is, “Hungarian Rhapsody #2”. The first feeling given is being stuck in an old school cartoon with a Tim Burton twist. The musical work thrown into it, all the way down to the insane speed behind the beat of the drums, makes it the Writer’s Choice of Songs out of the entire set of four albums. “Wagner’s War” is definitely a work of art provided by the hands, and twisted minds, of The Great Kat. Another must have for the everyday audiophile.