Although I’m 43 years old now and Kat is a legendary band, I’ve never had the opportunity to listen to their music before. However, only now, in 2017, my friend Leszek sent me some of their reissued stuff and I’m having a true overdose of Kat! And let me tell you: this experience has been really great! After all, it could be considered a crime not having known this band before, but the fact is that they are not really very famous here in Brazil, being more restricted to the underground followers and record collectors. So, this time, I’m here sitting in my chair listening to their 1996 release, whose title is “...Róże Miłości Najchętniej Przyjmują Się Na Grobach”, and I can say that they bring something similar to the first Kat release I’ve heard  (“Szydercze...), although it sounds heavier at first sight, with a louder recording.

Again, I have to highlight the use of the Polish language as something very important here, because this gives a different atmosphere to their music and, even so I don’t understand the lyrics, I can notice a heartfelt expression and get really (and positively) puzzled by this strange language, which sounds pretty good to metal too! Besides this, their instrumental originality also got my attention, because they do not seem to follow anyone, but only their own instincts when creating their music, what makes Kat a peculiar band, something it’s getting too difficult to find these days. Songs like “Slodki krem” or “Plaszcz skrytobójcy” can fit as examples of this idiosyncratic approach.

Also, most of the songs are really long, bringing a kind of progressive atmosphere, since it seems that they are creating some type of musical narrative, with all those mood oscillations which are common to literature books and to some prog bands too, as “Wierze” can clearly show, with its more than 10 minutes of duration and several structural changes. On the other hand, songs like “Odi profanum vulgus” – their fastest song here – and “Strzez sie plucia pod waitr” present their more aggressive side, with an undeniable thrash accent, while “Purpurowe gody” and “Szmaragd Bazyliszka” bring some acoustic parts, what doesn’t mean that they are not heavy enough. Listen to the first heavy riff of this last track and you will perceive a Black Sabbath-esque heaviness, with the impressive addition of extreme growling vocals!!! Fucking cool!

So, as well as the first release I’ve heard from Kat, this one also impressed me very positively and made me believe that I was worng when I said their music was not my cup of tea. They surely bring an excellent and original stuff that should be heard by metal fans around the world. Hope that these reissues can take them to more distant countries, because Kat is a banda with personality in this overpopulated scene.

Cristiano Passos