The Great Kat – Worship Me Or Die reissue (1987/2007)

The Great Kat – Worship Me Or Die (1987/2007 reissue, Metal Mind Productions)

1. Metal Messiah
2. Kat Possessed
3. Death To You
4. Satan Goes To Church
5. Worship Me Or Die
6. Demons
7. Speed Death
8. Kill The Mothers
9. Ashes To Dust
10. Satan Says
11. Metal Massacre

Produced by: Kurt Shore & The Great Kat

Total Time – 30:15

The Great Kat official website
The Great Kat on MySpace
Metal Mind Productions
Roadrunner Records

I took notice of The Great Kat when this album was released back in ’87 but I never paid much attention. Here was a virtuoso musician that graduated from the Juilliard School in New York City that decided to incorporate her love of Classical Music with the power and fury of Speed Metal. Right away I knew it had to be a gimmick, from the over the top “metal goddess” image Kat uses, to the pairing of two specifically different styles of music at such an extreme. One look at this album cover and I knew that I wouldn’t like The Great Kat, I thought of her as a speedy rip-off or Lita and Doro. Never bought the album and never heard a note until now…..

The Package:
Metal Mind Productions really has a great reissue series going right now, licensing many out of print titles from Roadrunner Records and making them available again to the Metal masses. All reissues in the series are strictly limited edition to 2000 copies, each CD is numbered (mine is #1863). Metal Mind provides a nice full color digipak and booklet (with liner notes) and the CD is fully remastered. The only complaint is that there is no bonus material but, after hearing the album, it’s not a big deal.

The Music:
There really isn’t much to say, the songs are fast, over the top, and…..bad. What I heard coming out of my stereo sounded more like a really bad demo from a talentless early ’80s Thrash band than a classically trained, and self proclaimed, musical genius. The songwriting is juvenile and Kat’s guitar is very fast but it’s nothing special or amazing, I’ve heard faster shredding, and better songs, from many bands in today’s Black and Death Metal scenes. Add Kat’s wailing shriek that she calls “vocals” to the music and it’s a total disaster. Lucky for me the album clocks in at just over 30 minutes because this was an unbearable listen.

Bottom Line:
If you’re a fan of The Great Kat, you will like the reissue, Metal Mind puts out good product and her music is readily available again. To the uninitiated, the music is shocking because it’s so bad. To think that Roadrunner actually signed The Great Kat to a deal is amazing in itself, I can’t imagine future albums being any better. It’s a good thing to have a gimmick and exploit it for self-promotion, KISS has done it for years, but if the music doesn’t hold up then it’s all a big waste. Listening to this record was 30 minutes of wasted time.