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JASON.CON.CA'S REVIEW OF "BEETHOVEN'S GUITAR SHRED" DVD
 

By Jason MacIsaac, Jason.con.caJASON.CON.CA'S REVIEW OF "BEETHOVEN'S GUITAR SHRED" DVD! "Beethoven’s Guitar Shred is a collection of Kat’s videos showing her playing various classical pieces, Speed Metal style. If The Flash played guitar, this is what it would look like. Several magazines proclaim her one of the world’s fastest guitarists, and I believe it. It’s astonishing to watch. The music is recognizable to anyone who knows the classical pieces. Flight of the Bumble Bee would be great for any arcade game with a frantic pace. She’s also such an extreme personality that I could see The Great Kat herself in a videogame. She’d fit right in Brütal Legend, and I could totally see her in a nasty fight with Bayonetta." - Jason MacIsaac, Jason.con.ca

 
 
REVIEW: The Great Kat: Beethoven’s Guitar Shred
Posted: 9th June 2010 by Jason MacIsaac in Music
Tags: Beethoven's Guitar Shred, Flight of the Bumble Bee, The Great Kat
 
Much to my surprise and delight, my article 10 Songs I Demand They Put in Rock Band 3 received feedback from one of the artists I mentioned. No, not Elvis. ‘Twas The Great Kat herself.
JASON.CON.CA'S REVIEW OF "BEETHOVEN'S GUITAR SHRED" DVD! "Beethoven’s Guitar Shred is a collection of Kat’s videos showing her playing various classical pieces, Speed Metal style. If The Flash played guitar, this is what it would look like. Several magazines proclaim her one of the world’s fastest guitarists, and I believe it. It’s astonishing to watch. The music is recognizable to anyone who knows the classical pieces. Flight of the Bumble Bee would be great for any arcade game with a frantic pace. She’s also such an extreme personality that I could see The Great Kat herself in a videogame. She’d fit right in Brütal Legend, and I could totally see her in a nasty fight with Bayonetta." - Jason MacIsaac, Jason.con.ca
The kind of girl you don't take home to mama, unless mama is a Norse goddess.

I first encountered The Great Kat in the late 1980s, when her song “Metal Messiah” was featured on Much Music’s year-end wrap-up show Fromage, a tribute to the cheesiest videos. Dressed like a cross between a dominatrix and one of the villains from The Road Warrior, here was a woman who embraced the worst excesses of 80s metal and said, “You know what? Too restrained. Let’s go over the top. And then keep going.” Intrigued as I was, I didn’t really become a fan of Kat’s until I came across a copy of her 1990 album “Beethoven on Speed,” in which she played classical music like Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Paganini’s 24th Caprice on her guitar.

Very, very, fast.

The unique combination of metal raunch and cultured music was a winner for me. I was pleased to see that Kat is still going strong, and she sent me her latest DVD to check out: “Beethoven’s Guitar Shred.”
JASON.CON.CA'S REVIEW OF "BEETHOVEN'S GUITAR SHRED" DVD! "Beethoven’s Guitar Shred is a collection of Kat’s videos showing her playing various classical pieces, Speed Metal style. If The Flash played guitar, this is what it would look like. Several magazines proclaim her one of the world’s fastest guitarists, and I believe it. It’s astonishing to watch. The music is recognizable to anyone who knows the classical pieces. Flight of the Bumble Bee would be great for any arcade game with a frantic pace. She’s also such an extreme personality that I could see The Great Kat herself in a videogame. She’d fit right in Brütal Legend, and I could totally see her in a nasty fight with Bayonetta." - Jason MacIsaac, Jason.con.ca
Most Metal God and Goddesses quietly reformed their images in the wake of Grunge, changing their styles both musically and personally, packing away their glam make-up and cutting their long hair short. Not Kat. She has not mellowed an iota in the years since I first encountered her.

Beethoven’s Guitar Shred is a collection of Kat’s videos showing her playing various classical pieces, Speed Metal style. And merely calling it “Speed Metal” does not do justice to how fast she plays. If The Flash played guitar, this is what it would look like. Her webpage quotes several magazines that proclaim her one of the world’s fastest guitarists, and I believe it. It’s astonishing to watch.

AV MANIACS INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT KAT! "An AV Maniacs Exclusive: 'Evil' Ian Miller Meets The Great Kat And Lives!" "The woman that I now believe is a dark superhero sent by the ghosts of composers past in order to make darn sure nobody forgets who they are, by any means necessary, the one, the only, THE GREAT KAT!!!!" - By 'Evil' Ian Miller, AV Maniacs
The DVD contains “shreds” like Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #3, Beethoven’s Fifth and The Flight of the Bumble Bee (mentioned in my article). The music is recognizable to anyone who knows the classical pieces, and some of it is really quite cool. My favourite number appears under an Extra called “Shred Geniuses.” Here, Kat shows pictures of great figures in music, science and literature (Beethoven, Marie Curie, Edgar Allen Poe) while she blasts “The William Tell Overture” on her guitar (better known as “The Lone Ranger Theme” to some). She also modestly calls herself “The New Beethoven.” This style of music is… err… not to all tastes, to put it mildly, but there’s no denying that The Great Kat is a very talented musician.

There are also two original songs by Kat, “Islamofascists” and “Torture Techniques.” Torture Techniques suggests that The Great Kat thought Hostel was the feel-good comedy of the year. As for Islamofacists, that’s a wonderfully tasteless video in which Kat executes several hooded prisoners. Incidentally, I think any single frame of this video collection would violate 90 percent of the Taliban’s laws.

JASON.CON.CA'S REVIEW OF "BEETHOVEN'S GUITAR SHRED" DVD! "Beethoven’s Guitar Shred is a collection of Kat’s videos showing her playing various classical pieces, Speed Metal style. If The Flash played guitar, this is what it would look like. Several magazines proclaim her one of the world’s fastest guitarists, and I believe it. It’s astonishing to watch. The music is recognizable to anyone who knows the classical pieces. Flight of the Bumble Bee would be great for any arcade game with a frantic pace. She’s also such an extreme personality that I could see The Great Kat herself in a videogame. She’d fit right in Brütal Legend, and I could totally see her in a nasty fight with Bayonetta." - Jason MacIsaac, Jason.con.ca
Putting the "pagan" into Paganini.
 
The videos themselves are verrrrry low budget. Most of them feature Kat in some kind of dungeon, though one of the extras does have a bestial cartoon version of Kat shredding away. Also, as a result of her playing so damn fast, the videos are quite short. Kat’s tracks have never been epically long, and many of the videos are also free on her website, so it’s hard to recommend the DVD to anyone who isn’t a fan. It’s a good thing that the video is so cheap: her site is currently selling it for just eight dollars. Individual videos can also be purchased on iTunes.

I’m surprised Kat hasn’t received more attention; some of her music would be perfect for movies and videogames. Flight of the Bumble Bee would be great for any arcade game with a frantic pace. She’s also such an extreme personality that I could see The Great Kat herself in a videogame. She’d fit right in Brütal Legend, and I could totally see her in a nasty fight with Bayonetta. Here’s hoping this helps change things.

If you look up The Great Kat’s Twitter account (@greatkatguitar), you’ll notice that there’s a zero under “Following.” I suspect that this is because The Great Kat follows no-one.

-Jason MacIsaac

-Jason MacIsaac is the Executive Editor of Electric Playground.
 
 


 
 
 
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