LIVE REVIEW: Kittie @ Club Academy, Manchester

As the flames die down on this year’s fiery 25th edition of Bloodstock, nu-metal majesty emerges from its ashes. The return of KITTIE, the ferociously understated phoenix of the early 2000s, takes flight on a three-date tour across the UK, including a stop at Catton Park. In the dark thralls of Manchester Academy’s basement, a room considerably too small to contain the four-piece’s immense shredding power, they celebrate 30 years as a band, burning brighter under the direction of a loud crowd that screams that they’ve still got it. 

Whilst there are 20 years between their last two records, the KITTIE crowd is inundated with young fans. As the band’s debut Spit has been immortalised within the nu-metal roster, amongst the likes of  SLIPKNOT’s Iowa, DEFTONES’ Around The Fur and KORN’s Follow The Leader, the band have gained a new lease of life for the social media generation. Accompanied by new blood talent HARPY and SPLIT CHAIN, they oversee a clever booking that champions the legacy of that signature heavy sound, but also leaves the door open for the burgeoning future of the genre. 

HARPY commands the stage in latex-clad industrial pop. As she rips through each track, swirling through delicate vocals and throbbing basslines, her stage presence is commanding. Enthralling, even, but the music felt lacklustre as the backing track swam heavy in the mix. It was hard to see past the calls for “mommy” to need a moshpit. For those who got it, they absolutely got it, and here a sizable crowd got ready to mosh. Still early in her career, there’s a lot of promise in her power, the real test of character is how this translates to her songwriting. 

Rating: 6/10

Pure chaotic energy. That is what SPLIT CHAIN bring to this lineup. Built from the foundations of KITTIE and their contemporaries, the Bristolians bleed for bringing back that signature noughties sound. Vocalist Bert Martínez-Cowles parades around the stage looking for a way through the harsh lighting and the all-or-nothing riffs like a disgruntled Chino Moreno. By the end of their set, they have the entire room bouncing. For a band that started three years ago, they’ve created a formidable reputation as one of the biggest upcomers in UK heavy music, now they prove themselves amongst their mentors in a suffocating squash of bodies against bodies in the centre of the pit. 

Rating: 8/10

Celebrating 30 years as a band, from the moment Morgan Lander’s gutty scowls thrum like a well-oiled motor engine, the crowd is kicked into the next gear. The first minute is just a wall of sheer death-defiance, cut up by complex and searing guitar solos, as their flame sprawled background lights up in it’s blazing ignition. Fire, the first track off of their comeback record of the same name, is a frankenstein of the most brilliant parts of modern metal. KITTIE’s new sound oozes with this LAMB OF GOD brutality,  spun faster with decimating percussion with the same voltage as MOTLEY CRUE’s  intro to Kickstart My Heart.  

From a distance, the band seemed no different to the touring band from twenty years ago, hellbent on causing carnage as their hair flips in the chaos. Over the years, their sound has shifted from nu-metal, to thrash, to a more polished heavy metal, but it still regains that unrelenting wildness that has stayed with them since day one. At it’s core sisters Morgan and drummer Mercedes Lander keep insatiable rhythm together blasting through banger after banger, like  What I’ve Always Wanted, Spit and Oracle. 

At times, over their twenty song set, the pacing of songs felt a little slow, as they were showing the breadth of their thirty year career, cherry-picking an even set of tracks for each era. As an anniversary show, it span the room into a frenzy, especially as Charlotte began to play. As a unit, with guitarist Tara McLeod and bassist Ivana ‘Ivy’ Jenkins, this is the band at their most complete. In a sincere moment with the crowd, Morgan endears “If you show up, we will keep playing”, before rolling into Charlotte. 

In a criminally small venue, KITTIE finish on a duo showcasing the immense journey of their band. Brackish, the first single the band ever released – their kingmaker – and Eyes Wide Open, the first track from their new era. The moments that truly define them. For those at Manchester, that evening with KITTIE was up there with them too. 

Rating: 9/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action from Libby Percival here: 

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