The Great Kat
Worship Me or Die!
Released: 1987
Genre: Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal
Length: 30:17
Label: Roadracer
Producer: Kurt Shore & The Great Kat
Band Members
The Great Kat - guitars, vocals, violin
Tom Von Doom - bass
Adam Killa - drums
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The Great KAT is one of the most important and known front woman of the 80s. She studied violin for several years (studying at the prestigious Juilliard Academy) and then she became crazy about metal in general (apparently after hearing Judas Priest), deciding to form a band. The result was the “Worship Me or Die!” album which features eleven tracks of pure speed or shred metal (or whatever genre you want to throw it in), honestly though it doesn't matter what you want call it. The main word is speed and it’s all about the pure, fast guitars parts, and deceptively complicated lead shreds.
Since the opener, “Metal Messiah”, we can understand how the whole album will be. The speed is always high and the songs are full of guitars solos intermezzos. They are very fast and can be seen as a bit excessive and annoying in some parts to the uninitiated listener. The twist is that there are solos in several parts that didn’t need such an abundant amount of them, but we get them anyways much to the joy or annoyance to the listener (I personally like them). They are ultimately shred solos with lots of tremolo picking parts in different styles, they can be a bit difficult to break down and ingest at first but in time you will start getting it, unless you are some kind of elitist towards the instrument.
The vocals by this aggressive girl are truly vicious and somehow they reminded me the ones by Nicole Lee from Znowhite. The drums and the bass are competent but are pretty much there just to support the main work by the guitars and everything is a bit centralized in the structure and the mix. The songs lead everywhere as is most of the cases, being conceived as a simple manifestation of anger and impulsivity, yet there is an underlying method in all of them. Yes, the refrains are earworms and become very recognizable, to some that’s not enough to make great songs. However that premature thinking process is where those people are amazingly wrong, there is a lot going on here that takes a few listens to really absorb to appreciate.
The point to this (and subsequent albums) is this is metal from the perspective of a virtuoso, not a simple guitar player with a Yngwie delusion. The tempo changes are a bit weird at times but do fall in line with the concepts and ideals of classical music and its historic composers. The continued lead guitar shredding is a bit erratic at times but it is still based in classical composition and not meathead metal tropes. Now given when this released I am pretty sure everything was made to be excessive and shocking to garner a bit of attention (I remember a small feature in People Magazine regarding her) but the refrain and the vocals on “Satan Goes To Church” are just amusing, and I believe that is the point, you never knew what was coming next. The drum triplets on the track in question are a solid and serve the song well, the most traditional metal sounds come from the palm muting parts on the guitar which makes it a bit more derivative for the time but it is still very solid tonally.
I think my only complaints are 2 fold....first, the songs are really short but that is just personal preference talking. She still creates short songs now which are just as punchy and technically formidable today. Second, the production is a bit thin and coarse, sometimes the highs can really hurt your ears if you haven't adjusted your volume or EQ to compensate for that in advance.
Ok, you want to shock the audience and the people, then do it in a way that isn't status quo of the day. That is just what you have here in this album. Now there maybe several more "serious" and "creative" “metal queens” in the panorama of the 80s at the time with great musicians behind them, but there was and still is only one Shred Goddess, and that was and is The Great Kat. This album is an interesting piece for the collectors of rarities if you find an original copy of it (it is a bitch to actually find it in the wild). For the rest of you, find it any way you can & listen to it eithet for pure curiosity sake or to have something that comes off typical and simple at first, only to drag you down the rabbit hole of compositional madness. It is not a perfect album but in my opinion it is worth the time invested in it....if you are willing to step into the world only The Great Kat can create.
Score: 4/5
