Oracle (Kittie album)
| Oracle | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||
| Studio album by Kittie | ||||||||||
| Released | October 30, 2001[1] | |||||||||
| Recorded | EMAC Recording Studios | |||||||||
| Genre | ||||||||||
| Length | 47:41[1] | |||||||||
| Label | Artemis | |||||||||
| Producer | Garth Richardson | |||||||||
| Kittie chronology | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 56/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Alternative Press | [4] |
| Blender | [4] |
| NME | 5/10[5] |
| Playlouder |  [6] |
| Q | [4] |
| Robert Christgau |  [7] |
| Rolling Stone | [3] |
| Spin | 7/10[4] |
Oracle is the second album by the heavy metal band Kittie. It was released in 2001. The album shows a change in Kittie's sound and features elements of thrash metal and death metal.
Commercial performance
The album debuted at #57 in the Billboard Top 200, selling 30,000 copies. By the end of December 2001 the album sold 115,000 units in the US. By the end of 2002, the album sold 225,000 units in the US. The music video for "What I Always Wanted" received heavy airplay on the MTV2 and MuchMusic channels. The album peaked at #121 on the Official Top UK Albums Chart. It also peaked at #91 on the Official German Albums chart.[8]
Background
After finishing their schedule on the 2001 SnoCore Tour, the band planned on returning to the same basement where they recorded their first album, to begin a work on a sophomore effort.
Lead guitarist and vocalist Morgan Lander noted how the band members were only 14 years old when writing their debut album and that "We haven’t written in 4 or 5 years." She acknowledged a change in influence from their early days, stating, "Then we listened to bands like Nirvana, Silverchair, and Alice in Chains. Now we listen to stuff like Cannibal Corpse and Nile." However, the band would continue to write in the same fashion by first composing the music and then using that "as the backdrop behind the vocals."[9]
Morgan Lander explained the album title saying "An oracle speaks of truth, and sort of foresees the future," says Morgan. "This album is a coming-into-our-own album. We've found our own sound, and it's our truth. If you're not feeling in your heart what you're putting in to music, it's not worth a thing-I'm all about integrity, and keeping things pure and true, the way you intended them to be. There is a lot of emotion manifested into this really aggressive, raw sort of album, and it comes out in the music. I found out after we named the album that our ears have an oracle, and so do our hearts-So Oracle pertains to music, emotions, your heart. There's a lot that is intertwined."[10]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Oracle" | Mercedes Lander, Morgan Lander | 2:02 |
| 2. | "Mouthful of Poison" | Lander, Lander | 4:38 |
| 3. | "In Winter" | Lander, Lander | 5:32 |
| 4. | "Severed" | Lander, Lander | 3:20 |
| 5. | "Run Like Hell" (Pink Floyd cover) | David Gilmour & Roger Waters | 4:09 |
| 6. | "Pain" | Lander, Lander | 3:49 |
| 7. | "Wolves" | Lander, Lander | 3:25 |
| 8. | "What I Always Wanted" | Lander, Lander | 3:43 |
| 9. | "Safe" | Lander, Lander | 4:12 |
| 10. | "No Name" | Lander, Lander | 2:14 |
| 11. | "Pink Lemonade" | Lander, Lander | 10:37 |
Personnel
- Morgan Lander: vocals, guitar, piano
- Mercedes Lander: drums
- Talena Atfield: bass
- Production
- Siegfried Meier - second engineer
References
- 1 2 3 4 Torreano, Bradley. "Oracle". AllMusic. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
- 1 2 "CD Review of Kittie Oracle". Chris Schwegler.
- 1 2 Rolling Stone review at the Wayback Machine (archived February 11, 2007)
- 1 2 3 4 5 Critic reviews at Metacritic
- ↑ NME review
- ↑ Playlouder review at the Wayback Machine (archived February 11, 2002)
- ↑ Robert Christgau review
- ↑ "Rob Zombie And Sevendust Debut Solid, "Oracle" Reveals Future". shoutweb.com. 2001-11-21. Retrieved 2001-11-21.
- ↑ Joseph, Peter Sno-core Ball hits with metal edge 'The GW Hatchet (February 8, 2001). Retrieved on 7-16-11.
- ↑ "Kittie". www.yamaha.com/artists. YAMAHA Yamaha.
- "Amazon". Shoutweb.com. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
- "Shoutweb". Retrieved 2008-11-10.
External links
- Oracle at Metacritic