Until the End (Kittie album)

Until the End is the third studio album by Canadian heavy metal band Kittie, released on July 26, 2004, through Artemis Records. It was their only album with bassist Jennifer Arroyo, who joined the band in March 2002. The album was recorded in March 2004 with producer Steve Thompson at Long View Farm Studios in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Musically, it continued Kittie's transition away from their early nu metal sound, whilst placing a heavier emphasis on melody than on their previous two albums. Kittie wrote the album while they were engaged in a lawsuit with Artemis, and its lyrics and artwork reflect the band's feelings of frustration and uncertainty during that period. After recording concluded, Kittie recruited guitarist Lisa Marx for a tour in support of the album.

Until the End received mixed reviews from critics, who were divided over its maturity and progression from Kittie's earlier output. The album sold 19,000 copies in its first week and peaked at number 105 on the US Billboard 200 chart and its only single, "Into the Darkness", reached number 116 on the UK Singles Chart. After two promotional tours in support of the album, financial difficulties caused by a lack of touring support from Artemis led to the departures of Arroyo and Marx from Kittie in February 2005; the following month, the band parted ways with the label and went on hiatus.

Background

In November 2001, Kittie released their second studio album, Oracle. On March 18, 2002, following a tour of Europe in support of the album, bassist Talena Atfield left the band. Jennifer Arroyo, formerly of the rap metal band Spine, joined Kittie two days later, making her live debut with the band in Manchester, New Hampshire, on March 29, 2002.

On April 1, 2003, Kittie filed a lawsuit against its record label, Artemis Records, and its parent company, Sheridan Square Entertainment, claiming that the label owed them unpaid royalties. The lawsuit prevented Kittie from recording a new album, and the band members were unsure if they would stay together through the end of the lawsuit. To cope with the uncertainty, they began working on new material. Morgan wrote most of Until the End guitar riffs, lyrics and melodies, with Mercedes and Arroyo contributing some additional arrangements and their own drum tracks and basslines to the album, respectively. before embarking on their Kiss of Infamy Tour with Motograter and 40 Below Summer, from October 18 to December 1, 2003. On both tours, the band debuted six new songs; "Look So Pretty", "Career Suicide", "Until the End", "Pussy Sugar", "Burning Bridges", and "Loveless". Mercedes said that playing their new songs helped them mature and made the band more comfortable recording them.

Recording and production

On March 1, 2004, it was announced that Kittie and Artemis Records had settled the lawsuit. According to Morgan, the band decided to settle after realizing it would take too long to resolve and ultimately be of no benefit to them, even if they won. Morgan said that Kittie chose to record at Long View Farm because of its isolated nature and facilities, allowing the band to focus solely on recording; according to Mercedes, they left the studio three or four times at most during the recording process. The band spent little time doing pre-production, as they had finished writing and arranging all of their songs before they went in to record them. The basic guitar, bass and drum tracks for Until the End were done in the first week of recording; Mercedes' drums were tracked in the span of three days. The following week, Morgan finished recording her vocals.

Until the End was recorded onto two-inch analogue tape, with minimal digital editing or overdubs.

|group=N No click tracks were used. Morgan said that Thompson's approach to recording was "more to focus on the song itself" and develop its own individual sound and personality; he and the band would spend time attempting to get specific guitar tones and sounds, sometimes by experimenting with his array of instruments and pedals, "We were looking for someone really solid and with something to offer, someone who could hear something and play it right off the bat", Arroyo said. The band tried out six or seven people, including Lisa Marx, formerly of the hardcore band To See You Broken. Kittie first learned of Marx after meeting her bandmates at a Seattle show and Mercedes subsequently reached out to her online. The band liked her personality and their shared sense of humour, and although she was the second or third person to try out, "we really knew it was going to be [her] from the beginning", Morgan said. Artemis Records announced the addition of Marx to Kittie's lineup, as well as Until the End release date, on April 26, 2004.

Composition and lyrics

Until the End has been described as death metal, heavy metal and thrash metal. Placing a heavier emphasis on melody than on their previous albums, it contains heavy riffs, double bass drumming, fluctuating time signatures, snarled

The artwork for Until the End was illustrated by Geoff Mack, from a visual concept by Morgan Lander. The album's only single, "Into the Darkness", was released to radio stations on June 29, 2004. It was released as a single in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2004, where it reached number 116 on the UK Singles Chart. Kittie filmed a music video for the song, directed by Greg Kaplan and Rafaela Monfradini, in late May 2004. The video first aired on MTV2's Headbangers Ball on June 19, 2004,

Critical

On review aggregator website Metacritic, Until the End holds a score of 56 out of 100, based on reviews from seven critics, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". Despite finding some "faintly creative moments" on the record, Exclaim! Jill Mikkelson commented that the album's main selling point was Kittie's "juvenile riot grrrl attitude". George Smith of The Village Voice dismissed the album as "tenaciously mindless and effortlessly grim", comparing Kittie unfavourably with Slayer, Pungent Stench and Grave and commenting that "other than being a product of women, there's only one reason to recommend [Until the End]: It's marginally better than Auf der Maur".

Rick Skidmore of Westword and Kerrang! Nick Ruskell stated that Kittie had made significant improvements to their songwriting on Until the End; the latter said that the band "sounds more like their own... than the Machine Head-ettes of old". NME Pete Cashmore criticized Kittie's lack of originality and attempts to incorporate "subtlety and nuance" into the thrash metal genre, which he felt was "to the detriment of a style that should always be about brutality and aural punishment". Conversely, Paul Travers of Metal Hammer ranked it as Kittie's worst in a 2024 ranking of the band's seven albums, stating: "Kittie have never made a terrible album, but Until The End was perhaps their least cohesive."

Touring and aftermath

From July to August 2004, Kittie embarked on a headline tour with supporting acts Candiria, 36 Crazyfists and Twelve Tribes. The band also performed at one of the stops of Roadrunner Records' RoadRage 2004 tour, at the Worcester Palladium in Massachusetts, on August 6, 2004. On August 11, 2004, Mercedes was hospitalized for internal bleeding, caused by a combination of stress and dehydration, prior to a show in Cleveland, Ohio. Consequently, the band cancelled their remaining tour dates. Kittie formed the tour with the intention of raising awareness for women in heavy metal. On January 15, 2005, the band performed at the Circo Volador concert hall in Mexico City.

Artemis Records offered Kittie limited touring and promotional support for Until the End, forcing Morgan and Mercedes to pay Arroyo, Marx and the band's touring costs with their personal funds. Due to their worsening financial situation, Morgan and Mercedes told Arroyo and Marx after Kittie finished touring that they would not be able to pay them a retainer. Marx was upset by this, and left the band following their tour of Mexico in February 2005. Arroyo left Kittie shortly thereafter to pursue work with her other band, Suicide City, which she felt gave her more room to contribute creatively.

Morgan announced Marx and Arroyo's departures through a statement on Kittie's official message board on March 23, 2005, where she blamed Artemis Records' lack of support for the band for their departures. A week later, on March 31, 2005, Kittie parted ways with Artemis after the band rejected a proposed amendment to the band's contract with the label, which would have reduced the recording budget of their fourth album. Following this, Morgan and Mercedes put the band on hiatus for six months.

Reflecting on the album in Kittie: Origins/Evolutions (2017), Morgan said:

Track listing

All songs written by Morgan Lander.

Notes

Additional arrangements on tracks 1 and 5 by Jennifer Arroyo
Additional arrangements on tracks 1, 2, 4 to 7 and 11 by Mercedes Lander

Personnel

Personnel per liner notes.

| align="center" |34

! scope="row" |US Billboard 200

| align="center" |4

Release history

{| class="wikitable"

|+Release history for Until the End

!Region

!Label

!Format

!Date

!Catalog #

!Ref.

|Europe

| rowspan="4" |CD

|July 26, 2004

|RCD17017

|United States

| rowspan="2" |Artemis

| rowspan="2" |July 27, 2004

| rowspan="2" |ATM-CD-51538

| rowspan="2" |

|Europe

|Metal Mind

|CD (digipak)

|November 24, 2008

|MASS CD 1245 DG

|Various

|MNRK Music Group

|LP

|April 22, 2023

|MNK-LP-46873

Notes

References

Citations