KAT – Without Looking Back

The Beast is back in town – this could be how most of the KAT fans would react to the news that the Heavy Metal legends from the region of Upper Silesia are to release their new album. Although the guitarist Piotr Luczyk is the only original band member in the current lineup, the band has not lost any of its momentum and the new songs are certainly decent, although some die hard KAT fans may never see them as something as good as the classics from decades ago. But anyone who has never heard of the band, should enjoy it. And for all those who do not know: do not be deceived by the band’s seemingly funny name! „Kat” is the Polish word for „executioner.” Sounds a lot more Metal now! Here are KAT with their newest record Without Looking Back.

This record is the third one by KAT to have its lyrics in English. Just as other cultic Polish Rock and Heavy Metal bands, such as Turbo, KAT are known to write their lyrics in their native language. As much as most of the previous albums by the Polish metallers could be compared to the music by such bands as Venom, Accept or Sodom, Without Looking Back incorporates more diverse styles. It definitely hass a less dirty and dark sound to it, although the heaviness is still here. Some songs on here, such as the seventh track „Walls Of Whispers,” have some melodic, quite heavenly sounding instrumental breakdowns intersperse with heavy and tight parts. The following composition „Let There Be Fire” is no less interesting, and that’s mainly due to the use of the Hammond organ, which could definitely add a lot of genuine sound to any record released in 2019. Fans of pure kicking Metal music should not worry, though – there are some absolute badass tracks on this album too! The second track, titled „Poker” is probably the best example of that. Catchy verse riff that could be described as a heavy and dark version of a song from Ride The Lightning by Metallica, to be precise: „Trapped Under Ice,” although it also does sound quite a bit like the verse riff of „All Guns Blazing” from Judas Priest’s legendary Painkiller. Of course, every song has some quality lead parts to it, after all it is Piotr Luczyk playing them – such quality would be expected from someone who has been in the band for entire four decades. The album ends with a composition titled „The Promised Land” which, just like „Walls of Whispers” is full of tempo and dynamics changes.

Without Looking Back certainly is a good album. In some ways it’s even better perhaps, especially as the new singer, Jakub „Qbek” Weigel is certainly a better singer than the legendary Roman Kostrzewski. But the fans of old KAT may still see the new lineup as a KAT tribute band, just like the fans of Accept may not accept (pun not intended) Mark Tornillo as the band’s vocalist simply because they love Udo Dirkschneider. Udo Dirkschneider may not be a great vocalist at all, but he’s still regarded a legend thanks to his stage presence and very unusual type of charisma. And the same thing concerns KAT and Roman Kostrzewski. Some bands are reserved for particular musicians only. So despite Without Looking Back being a very decent album, it may not get a positive response from the old KAT fans. But if anyone who’s into Heavy Metal has never heard of KAT before – then this album is definitely worth giving a listen.