the White Swan : "Nocturnal Transmission"

Kittie always had potential but following the boundaries of nu-metal did not do them any favors. Mercedes Lander has grown out of her Hot Topic days and is making a fusion of darkness and sudge. Her clear singing voice has not really changes she is just making different choices with it. The first song throbs off one hypnotic theme which works for this , but I hope this is not al there is to this album's song writing. From what I remember Lander had a knack of more hooky song writing  that she did not have to put away with the JNCOs . Not only does it seem like we are following the same formula with "Nocturnal Transmission " as we did the first song , but the riffs and melodies are almost to similasr. Until we get to the chorus that has more of a soaring melody and accented punches. I am going to need them to do something different with the next song.

There is a more of a droning rock like riff, but it is uptempo from what they were doing enough for me to feel like I am not hearing the same song so that works . Her voice has not changed much over the years. She know what works for her and sticks to it. This ep ends with a cover of Tracy Bonham's "Take Me to the Sky". I remember who Tracy Bonham is. I think of her as a one hit one wonder from the 90s and this song is not her one hit. It does coast on the atmosphere and works dynamically I think they could have taken a lesson when they sat down to learn this song at band practice . For while i know this is not what the original sounds like evening not remembering it if I ever heard it, I do know a great deal about 90s alternative music as I was in high school as it kicked off. The song writing had hooks, the vocal melody to this song is catchier than their originals. Yes they added their won sound to this but it high lights my most common complaint of bands now having a sound but not songs. Lander does come from a time where this was not the case.  So you can have a sound as they proved with this cover and still have a song, they just did not write. I do think Lander is in her own right just as capable of a song writer as Tracy Bonham. Not John Bonham, but better than Jason Bonham at writing songs not the drums.

If you liked Kittie you have probaly already grown out of ni-metal so should be able to embrace this. Her voice sounds great and it's a pretty solid and mature step forwad from where she came from that I can respect , more so than if she put out a new Kittie album. I will give this a 9, I think it's as good as she could have done while still getting her feet under this new project and breaking off into some more relevent for today.