Until the End (album)

In November 2001, Kittie released their second studio album, Oracle. Although the album debuted at number 57 on the Billboard 200 chart, its sales quickly tapered off due to a lack of promotional support from the band's record label, Artemis Records.[1][2][3] Nearly four months after the album's release, Kittie parted ways with bassist Talena Atfield. She was replaced by Jennifer Arroyo, formerly of the rap metal band Spine, who the band had played with together on Farmclub.com in 2000.[4][5][6]

On April 1, 2003, Kittie and Oracle producer Garth Richardson filed a lawsuit against Artemis and its parent company, Sheridan Square Entertainment, over eleven alleged breaches of contract and unpaid royalties.[7][8] To cope with the uncertainty of the band's legal struggles, Kittie began writing new material and continued to go out on tour. "I felt like that helped give [the band] some hope", Arroyo stated.[9][10] The band had written six songs, including "Look So Pretty", "Career Suicide", "Until the End" and "Burning Bridges", by late June 2003.[11][12][13] The new songs were then premiered during the band's Kiss of Infamy Tour throughout the summer of 2003.[14][11][12] "I have always believed that if you tour on a song before you record it, it always turns out better in the studio. Playing the song live helps it mature and makes you that much more comfortable with the song", stated drummer Mercedes Lander.[11]

On March 1, 2004, it was announced that Kittie and Artemis Records had settled their differences out of court, and the band would commence recording their third album at Long View Farm Studios in North Brookfield, Massachusetts with producer Steve Thompson, marking the first time the band had recorded outside of their hometown of London, Ontario.[15][16] According to Morgan Lander, one of the band's goals for Until the End was "just to get everyone as focused as possible",[17] and Long View Farm's isolated nature minimized distractions and helped the band focus more on recording.[16] Recording lasted three weeks, with the band working for at least twelve hours a day at the studio.[18] Mercedes Lander's drums were tracked in the space of three days.[16][18][19] Although the band's three week recording window was seen as short, Mercedes explained that the band had written and arranged all of Until the End's material before they began recording, so the band did not have to spend much time doing pre-production.[16][20][21] Between recording sessions, the band would meet with

Unlike the band's previous albums, Kittie recorded Until the End live in the studio, directly onto two-inch analogue tape, in order to give the album a "live in-your-face feel". Afterwards, some, albeit minimal, digital editing was done to the tracks.[18] No click tracks were used.[18] "I loved how we were all able to play all together everyday to record the songs," Arroyo stated. "I've never been in a situation like that and I think it's the way to go because of the feel you get. I feel it translates onto the track you're recording when you are all in there together."[18] Kittie and Thompson worked on each song individually and spent time trying to get specific guitar tones and sounds, and tried recording in different rooms at the studio in an attempt to capture different sounds.[16][18] Arroyo was also able to experiment with the studio's array of bass guitars and pedals.[22]

Morgan Lander was primarily responsible for writing the album's guitar riffs, lyrics and melodies; Mercedes and Arroyo contributed some riffs to the album, whilst others were written by Morgan and Mercedes without Arroyo's involvement.[16][23] Mercedes and Arroyo also wrote all of their own basslines and drum tracks, respectively.[16] Describing the album's writing process to Metal Edge, Morgan stated: "it starts with a riff and idea, everyone adds their personal touch to the song, and it becomes that song."[16]

Until the End has been described as death metal,[25][26] thrash metal,[27][28] heavy metal[29][30] and alternative metal.[30] The album expands upon the death metal stylings of Oracle, and features more melody and dynamics than the aforementioned album.[19][29][31][32] The album contains heavy riffs, double bass drumming,[33] as well as screaming, growling,[34] snarling[35] and clean singing.[32] In contrast to the "mid-tempo" and "plodding" Oracle, Until the End features fluctuating time signatures and stuttering beats.[10][29] Morgan Lander stated that the album consists of "some faster songs and some slower songs".[10] Most of the lyrics on Until the End reflect Kittie's feelings of uncertainty and "being suffocated and held down" amidst their legal struggles with Artemis, a theme which is also reflected in the album's artwork.[14] "For a while there, we felt like we were at the end of our rope, and we really had no idea what was going to be happening to us", Morgan stated. "We did go through a lot of that, and a lot of it is reflected in the mood and the music, and my lyrics."[14] The album's other songs explore themes sourced from personal experiences, situations and relationships.[33]

The opening track, "Look So Pretty", opens with a doom-laden riff, before turning into a faster song.[36][37] It was written as an "answer to some menacing things that someone had directed towards [the band]".[14] "Pussy Sugar" is "a depressing song" about "seeing someone you care about go through a dark, unfortunate time, and standing back and seeing that there's absolutely nothing you can do", according to Morgan Lander.[14] The band came up with the song's title as a joke whilst on tour in November 2003.[14] "We were in a Waffle House, and we were just thinking of stupid names and funny stuff, and someone yelled, 'Pussy Sugar!' And Morgan was like, 'New song number one is being called 'Pussy Sugar!'", according to Mercedes Lander.[14] Morgan stated that "In Dreams" is about "me being crazy, and thinking that I'm going crazy ... I'm not sure if it's because of the stress of everything that's happened over the years, so it's me wondering if I really am crazy."[14] "Into the Darkness", considered to be the album's most accessible track, concerns "The idea of not knowing", and "just being afraid of the unknown".[31][38] Morgan called it "the most difficult song [she'd] ever written lyrically and vocally", due to its key change in the last chorus.[16] "Daughters Down" is about "being held down, like you're being held underwater", and "people being vindictive, and always having someone who doesn't get you", according to Mercedes Lander.[14] Morgan stated that the song's title "refers to holding the people down that should be treated like daughters", whilst its chorus ("Hold your daughters down, throw your daughters down") "is describing the people that should be caring".[14]

In an interview with Hit Parader, Morgan stated that the album's title refers to Kittie's feelings of perseverance. "We're in this until the end. There's no turning back. We're lifers. We've been doing this for as long as I can remember, and hopefully we'll be doing it for a long, long time to come."[21]

On April 26, 2004, Artemis Records announced the release of Until the End, as well as the addition of a new second guitarist, Lisa Marx, formerly of the hardcore band To See You Broken.[11][39] Marx had met Kittie at a Seattle show, and jammed not long after.[40]

In late May 2005, "Into the Darkness" was selected as the album's first (and ultimately, only) single, and was released to radio stations on June 29, 2004.[41][42] A music video for the song was filmed in May/June 2004.[42] After recording a live segment for the video, an acrylic pool of water that was suspended above the set burst open, sending 600 gallons of water gushing on to the stage and posing an electrocution hazard. No one was hurt.[42] The video made its debut on MTV2's Headbangers Ball on June 19, 2004, and was added to rotation on Fuse in late July 2004.[42][43] Kerrang! TV selected "Into the Darkness" as the "Video of the Week", dated August 18 to 24, 2004.[44]

From July to August 2004, Kittie embarked on their own headlining tour with supporting acts Candiria, 36 Crazyfists and Twelve Tribes.[45] The rest of the band's tour dates were cancelled after Mercedes Lander was hospitalized due to severe dehydration and exhaustion prior to a show in Cleveland, Ohio on August 11, 2004.[46] On September 7, Kittie announced that they would be teaming up with Otep and Crisis for the Metal Movement Tour, which lasted from September 27, 2004, to November 10, 2004.[47][48]

On March 23, 2005, Morgan Lander announced via a post on the band's official message board that Marx and Arroyo had both left the band.[49] The Lander sisters blamed Artemis Records for both members departures; despite initially promising to support the band,[49] the label did not offer the Kittie any promotional or touring support for Until the End.[50] Morgan stated:[51]

"For the past few years, Artemis Records has denied us critical things like tour support, movie soundtracks, advertisement placement and other critical things that help a band to keep making money and pay the people that needed to be paid, like [Jennifer] and Lisa. Within the last 6 months, things became so financially bad that we were no longer able to keep the girls on retainer, that is give them a salary while we are not touring. Not only were we not able to pay them, but we came home from the last tour not knowing what was next for the band. It is a sad fact, but ALL of this is happening because our label is destroying us, and these girls jumped from the sinking ship while they still could."[51]

At the time, Kittie were in negotiations with Artemis over whether the label would renew their contract with the band.[52] On March 31, 2005, the Lander sisters announced that Kittie had parted ways with Artemis due to "a proposed amendment to the recording budget for the pending fourth Kittie album."[53] Afterwards, the band went on a hiatus.[54]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	56/100[55]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[30]
Blabbermouth.net	5/10[32]
Blender	[35]
Kerrang!	[28]
Metal Storm	6.8/10[34]
NME	3/10[27]
Rock Hard	7/10[56]
Spin	B−[57]
Stylus	8/10[29]

Until the End spent two weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart, debuting at number 105 on the chart with first week sales of 19,000 copies.[58][1] It also debuted at number four on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart, spending six weeks on the chart.[1] In the UK, "Into the Darkness" reached number 116 on the UK Singles Chart, and is the band's most recent single to chart there.[59]

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".[55] Writing for AllMusic, James Christopher Monger praised the album's improved songwriting, though he felt that some of its later tracks were affected by "an air of mediocrity".[30] Billboard felt that the album "has more melody and memorable riffs than the band's previous two albums".[31] Bjorn Randolph of Stylus Magazine called the album Kittie's "most fully-realised", and "a compromise as a move toward the mainstream without succumbing to it."[29] Kerrang! writer Nick Ruskell opined that Kittie "[sounds] more like their own band these days than the Machine Head-ettes of old", and stated that the album "[generates] a truly spiteful energy".[28] Jan Jaedike of Rock Hard called Until the End their best album up to that point.[56] Rick Skidmore of Westword viewed the album as an improvement over Oracle, and stated that its blend of melody and heaviness "sounds odd at first, but it's surprisingly tasty".[26]

Other reviews were less positive. Blabbermouth.net stated that Until the End "suffers from the same basic problem as [Kittie's] first two releases: [Kittie] is not a good band, period. [They] may have finally learned how to play, but they still don't play well, and they have learned only rudimentary songwriting skills."[32] Dominik Winter of Ox-Fanzine called the album's content "tepid".[60] Malcolm of Metal Storm called the album's more metallic direction a step in the right direction, but criticized its "Nu-Metallish" tendencies and lack of guitar solos.[34] Although she considered the album to be a "big step forward", Exclaim!'s Jill Milkelson called Until the End "a deranged pop-metal mess".[61] Spin said that it was "unbridled in [its] nihilism",[57] whilst George Smith of The Village Voice panned the album as "tenaciously mindless and effortlessly grim".[62] NME's Pete Cashmore stated that "Kittie are rubbish, with a permanent lyrical setting of 'Feel A Bit Miserable, Parents Don’t Understand Me' and no original ideas whatsoever."[27]

The album has received some retrospective praise. In 2019, Kerrang! included the album's title track on their list of "10 seriously great songs by ‘gimmick’ bands", calling it "proof that the Canadian quartet were more than a marketing tactic".[63] In 2022, MetalSucks opined that Until the End was Kittie's best album, and called the album's title track, “Sugar,” and “Into the Darkness” some of "the best [songs] of Morgan Lander and Co.'s career".[64]

Reflecting on the album in 2015,[nb 1] Morgan Lander stated:

"Honestly, I like a lot of the songs on Until the End. I don't know [anything] that I regret a lot. Listening back, I kinda maybe wish that we had done things a little bit differently in the studio. Maybe a different producer. Maybe even a different studio. Mind you, [...] it was a really fun, awesome recording process. We had a lot of fun, it was a really really great time.[66]

All songs written by Morgan Lander, except where noted.[23]

• The official title of track 5 is "Pussy Sugar", but is often referred to as only "Sugar".[67]

Personnel per liner notes.[23]

Kittie

• Morgan Lander - guitars, vocals
• Jennifer Arroyo - bass
• Mercedes Lander - drums

Additional personnel

• Lisa Marx - live guitar

Production

• Steve Thompson - producer, mixing
• Ian Hatton - engineer
• John Arraya - guitar technician
• Ted Jensen - mastering
• Mike Lapierre - engineer
• Geoff Mack - artwork
• John Magnum - drum technician
• Devin O'Connell - engineer

Artwork

• Morgan Lander - artwork
• Reinhold Scherer - photography
• Brett Weiss - layout design

Citations

Sources