KAT - Oddech wymarłych światów (1988)^{Release ID: 3075}

I first became aware of Poland’s premier thrash metal export KAT in the very early 1990’s through the tape trading scene. I’d been trading with a European metal fanatic who was really big on them & he thought I might enjoy some of their thrashier material so he sent me over a few tapes that included their most highly regarded release in 1988’s classic third album “Oddech wymarłych światów”. I ended up really enjoying all of the releases he’d sent me so I’d follow KAT’s subsequent releases for the remainder of my tape trading days & would even check out one of their post-reunion albums upon my return to metal in 2009 but somehow KAT have drifted off my radar in recent times. I’m not familiar with a good half of their back catalogue & have never taken the time to revisit any of the releases I enjoyed as a youngster for the purpose of rating & review until now but I thought I might start with KAT’s pièce de résistance.

I’ve never experienced the first couple of KAT albums from when they reportedly championed more of a Venom-style heavy/speed metal sound but they were already a fairly classy & professional outfit by 1988 & that’s quite evident in the way they go about things on “Oddech wymarłych światów”. The production is perfectly suited to underground thrash with all of the instruments being presented clearly but never at the expense of the rawness that made European thrash so appealing during the 1980’s. The compositions are quite sophisticated too & one gets the feeling that KAT were just as influenced by the Americans as they were the Germans.

Instrumentally we find KAT taking a predominantly thrash-fronted approach although you can easily detect the band’s more traditional heavy metal roots at times, particularly on songs like the chuggy “Śpisz jak kamień” or the more commercially accessible power ballad “Głos z ciemności”. The highlights of the album definitely come when KAT are at their more intense & thrashy though with songs like opener “Porwany obłędem” (my personal favourite), “Dziewczyna w cierniowej koronie” & “Mag – Sex” all being very solid examples of the late 80’s European thrash metal sound. The thrashier works of fellow Poles Turbo are a pretty good guide for what to expect with Turbo having taken a very similar path of transition from their early heavy metal/rock works to high energy thrashers over their first few albums too. Greece’s Flames are another band that springs to mind while I’m consistently reminded of San Francisco Bay Area legends Exodus in both the vocals & instrumentation. There’s certainly a gruff European edge to Roman Kostrzewski’s vocal delivery that sits somewhere between the raspy squeals of Destruction’s Schmier & the psychotic outbursts of Exodus’ Paul Baloff while the regular use of clean guitars & melodic lead work is drawn from Americans bands like Metallica & is generally executed with great aplomb too just quietly.

You can see that all of the key elements are there for a high-quality thrash outing so why the middling score then? Well, there’s a couple of reasons for that. The first is the noticeable lack of genuine highlight tracks with none of the seven songs included sitting alongside the top tier artists in the genre. There are admittedly no weak tracks here either but the song-writing is often brought back into second or third tier territory by the inclusion of a flat riff or chorus. The music has a nice, raw feel to it but there’s probably not the consistency of elite thrash riffage required for my higher scores here. There’s no doubt that I’ve enjoyed my revisit to “Oddech wymarłych światów” but I did think I might have scored it just a touch higher if I’m being honest.

Prior to listening to this album for the 80's Thrash challenge, Kat had made little to no impact on my personal musical radar. Whenever their name came up I always vaguely associated it with The Great Kat and so consequently gave them a wide berth. And, in all honesty, despite missing out for many years on any number of great bands and albums due to preconceived prejudices, I really don't feel I've been deprived by avoiding Kat. This is mostly medium-paced thrash with heavy metal stylings that seems sorely lacking in great tunes and even at one point threatens to go into full-on metal ballad mode. It mostly fails to excite and I would firmly place this in the lower second-tier of 80's thrash along with bands like Flotsam and Jetsam. And no, this is nothing to do with the lyrics being in Polish as anyone who is even remotely familiar with my music taste will attest! Now I'm sure there are people who think Kat are the real deal and the Big Four are dirty poseurs and good luck to 'em, but this band and this album just aren't for me.