UNITED MUTATIONS REVIEW OF "BEETHOVEN SHREDS" CD

 

By Peter Van Laarhoven, United Mutations

 

THE GREAT KAT - BEETHOVEN SHREDS


the great kat: beethoven shreds
(2011, cd, usa, tpr music)

 

I didn't know. And you probably didn't know either. But The Great Kat knows! And she's more than willing to show it to the world: Beethoven shreds.
And it's not just Beethoven. On the "Beethoven Shreds" mini-album, Korsakov, Bach and Paganini get 'shredded' as well.

"So what is shredding?", I hear you ask. Well, a definition that might be applicable here is that it's the extremely fast playing of a solo or of a melody on a distorted guitar (or violin). And as you can probably tell by the way that The Great Kat looks on the album cover, it gets appreciated a lot by fans of heavy metal music.

"So what is The Great Kat doing in-between newsflashes of Sun Ra and Frank Zappa?"
Now that's what I call a good question.
Besides the respect for the unbelievable skills that one needs to pull this kind of thing off, I have to admit that I like what I hear. I think it's kind of refreshing and very funny to hear these corny classical melodies being performed in a more contemporary way.
Total time is about 7 minutes and a half for seven tracks. Shows you how fast The Great Kat plays. (And it has to be said that a full-size album would be a bit too much.)
Over the top? You bet. But that doesn't mean that it isn't funny.

"Beethoven Shreds" shows a nice equilibrium between skill, an adventurous approach and humour. And I like that.


www.greatkat.com