Oracle is the second studio album by Canadian heavy metal band Kittie, released on November 12, 2001, through Artemis Records. Produced by Garth Richardson and co-produced by vocalist and guitarist Morgan Lander, the album saw Kittie transition towards an extreme metal and death metal-based sound, moving on from the nu metal sound of Spit (1999). The album was recorded as a trio, following the departure of co-founding member and guitarist Fallon Bowman weeks before recording was due to commence; Jeff Phillips was subsequently brought in as an additional guitarist for the band's live performances in support of the album. Oracle was Kittie's only album with bassist Talena Atfield, who left the band four months after its release.
Oracle received generally mixed reviews from critics, who acknowledged Kittie's musical growth but felt that the album lacked originality or a distinct identity. The album debuted at number 57 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 33,000 copies in its opening week, and also made appearances on the German and UK Albums Charts. By 2004, the album had sold 220,000 copies in the United States.[1] Kittie embarked on an international tour in support of the album from August 2001 to February 2003.
Background and recording
In November 1999, Kittie released their debut album Spit, through Ng Records. Shortly after the album's release, Ng was acquired by Artemis Records, who gave the album a wider release on January 11, 2000.[2] The album was a commercial success, becoming certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[3] The band toured heavily in support of the album, and made appearances on the Ozzfest and SnoCore tours in 2000 and 2001.[4][5]
Artemis wanted Kittie to begin recording a new album after the Ozzfest tour in September 2000,[6] which the band refused to do, as they felt that they weren't finished touring.[7] Nevertheless, they began working on new material whilst out on the road, and during their tours in support of Spit, Kittie debuted the songs "Pain" and "Mouthful of Poison" live.[5][8] In early 2001, Kittie's vocalist and guitarist Morgan Lander indicated in various interviews that the band's next album would be "more aggressive" than Spit.[5][9] Once touring wrapped up in February 2001, the band begun jamming new material together at Morgan and drummer Mercedes Lander's parents' house in London, Ontario.[9][10] Whilst the band worked on the music together, Morgan wrote its lyrics.[11] As with Spit, the band would composing the music first, and then using that "as the backdrop behind the vocals."[9] Kittie found writing to be difficult and frustrating;[12] Mercedes found writing to be particularly hard, as she had not "come into to [her] own for writing songs" at the time.[13] Writing was finished by June 2001.[14]
By May 2001, Kittie were booked to record Oracle at EMAC Recording Studios in London, Ontario with producer Garth Richardson, who worked with the band on Spit, between July 21 and August 14, 2001.[15] Morgan had indicated a few months prior that Kittie would likely record with Richardson again as "He lets us do whatever the hell we want".[10] Weeks before recording was due to begin,[16] however, co-founding member and guitarist Fallon Bowman left Kittie due to creative differences with Morgan and her own struggles dealing with the band's newfound pressures.[17][18] On July 1, 2001, the band performed their only concert for that month in Alberquerque, New Mexico with a then-unknown male guitarist, sparking rumours about her departure.[19] On August 9, 2001, Artemis Records announced that Kittie would be continuing as a three piece (Bowman was not named in the statement), with Jeff Phillips, the band's guitar tech, filling in as a touring guitarist.[20][21]
As a result of Bowman's departure, Morgan recorded all of Oracle's guitar parts herself.[22] Richardson said that recording the album was easier than its writing process due to Morgan and Mercedes "knowing what they wanted to do".[23] In a 2001 interview with Guitar World, Morgan said: "We've never been ones for frivolous experimentation in the studio—we [Kitte] just [wanted] to make a straight-ahead metal record. Our attitude was, Don't fuck around; don't play bloops or bleeps."[24] Morgan and bassist Talena Atfield recorded their parts "using, essentially, their live rigs"; a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifer (occasionally an Egnater) and a Ampeg B5R amp, respectively.[24] The album was mixed by Randy Staub at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, and it was completed on August 28, 2001.[25] The recording of Oracle also marked the first collaboration between Kittie and Siegfried Meier, an assistant engineer who would go on to produce two of their later albums, In the Black (2009) and I've Failed You (2011).[26]
"[Oracle] was [an] album that had to be done. It was heavier, faster, more screaming — it was sort of our time to prove that we weren't gimmicks, that we weren't what a lot of critics wrote us off as, that we were a real metal band, and [so] we wrote a real metal album."[40]
As she had on Spit, Morgan based Oracle's lyrics off of own personal experiences.[41] However, she noted that they were written from a broader, less localized perspective than she had done previously:[41]"I know myself a lot better than I did five years ago so I feel comfortable writing things. It's not always about anger and hate."[42] The album does not feature any swearing.[42] "Mouthful of Poison" is about "professional jealousy",[35] and "people that spew a lot of shit - their assumptions about other people."[8] "Severed" is about "feeling hopelessness and abandonment".[35] Kittie originally recorded their cover of Pink Floyd's "Run Like Hell" for a scrapped Pink Floyd tribute album; they had covered the song during their tours in 2000,[43] and included on Oracle "to get it out of our hair", according to Morgan.[44] "Pain", which was written during the Ozzfest tour in the summer of 2000, discusses "the stresses of a grueling [sic] tour schedule".[10] "What I Always Wanted" is about Kittie's newfound pressures for success.[25][45] "Safe" is about hope, and "having a dream and being patient about achieving it."[46] The closing track "Pink Lemonade", which is over ten minutes long, was compared to the Slipknot songs "Scissors" and "Iowa".[32][47] Mercedes said that with the song, Morgan "wanted to kind of show that some things even if they look pretty and inviting sometimes have a darker ugly side to them."[48]
Explaining the album title, Morgan stated:
"An oracle speaks of truth, and sort of foresees the future. 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."[34]
Release
Promotion
Artemis Records shipped 400,000 copies of Oracle to stores before its release.[49] Originally set for release on October 30, 2001,[21] its release date was pushed back due to the September 11 attacks.[50] The album was released in Europe on November 12, 2001,[51] and in the United States the day after.[52] The lead single from the album, "What I Always Wanted" was first released as on October 9, 2001.[53] A music video for the song was released later that month; it was directed by Thomas Mignone, and "concerns the self-destructive consequences of greed".[54] The single peaked at number 36 on Billboard'sActive Rock chart,[55] whilst the video received heavy airplay on the MTV, MTV2, MTVX and MuchMusic channels.[49] On January 16, 2002, Kittie released "Run Like Hell" as a digital-only single.[56] That same month, Artemis serviced the Live in Hell EP to radio stations, featuring the song and three live tracks recorded in Detroit.[57][58] The album's third and final single, "In Winter", was released on May 13, 2002.[59] In addition, Kittie self-financed two live music videos for "Run Like Hell" and "Pain".[60][61]
Oracle debuted and peaked at number 57 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 33,000 copies in its first week,[49][55] before dropping to number 116 in its second week.[62]The album remained on the chart for five weeks, after which time the album had sold 93,000 copies in the United States.[55][63] The album also reached number 91 on the German Offizielle Top 100 Albums chart, and number 121 on the UK Albums Chart.[64] By July 2004, Oracle had sold 220,000 copies in the United States.[1] Kittie has attributed the album's lackluster performance to a lack of advertising and support from Artemis.[60][65]
Touring
On September 10, 2001, Kittie performed a one-off concert at the Highbury Garage in London, England.[66][67] The band then embarked on an international tour in support of Oracle, starting with two tours of North America, from October 21 to November 23, 2001 and December 27, 2001, to January 26, 2002.[52][54][68]Ill Niño supported the band on both tours, with No One and Chimaira providing additional support on the second tour.[52][68] From February 2 to March 2, 2002, the band toured Europe supported by Shadows Fall.[69] On March 18, 2002, Talena Atfield left the band.[70] In Kittie: Origins/Evolutions (2017), Morgan claimed that Atfield "was becoming disillusioned with being in [Kittie]" during the recording of Oracle,[71] and Mercedes claimed that Atfield "wasn't really around [for recording] to the extent Morgan and I were there, and Jeff [Phillips]. Jeff was there the entire time."[72] Two days later, the band recruited Jennifer Arroyo, formerly of the rap metal band Spine, as her replacement.[70] Arroyo and Kittie had first met each other in 2000, when both of their bands played on Farmclub.com.[70]
On review aggregator website Metacritic, Oracle holds a score of 56 out of 100, based on reviews from eight critics, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".[87] Writing for AllMusic, Bradley Torreano called Oracle "an average album by a promising band who needs to find a distinct identity".[27] Similarly, Tom Moon of Rolling Stone wrote: "Kittie sound like they want to pursue harder extremes but can't decide whether to snicker or snarl, to play doomsayer or dominatrix."[36]Hit Parader gave the album a B− grade and wrote, "There's no question that this is a better effort in a technical and song-structure sense than [Spit ], but somehow it doesn't seem quite as satisfying".[93]PopMatters praised the album's musicianship and Morgan Lander's vocals, but felt that "its music relies too much on metal formula".[37] Catherine Yates of Kerrang! described the album as "simply not bad", with much of it being "a seamless, streamlined execution of pretty unoriginal material" lacking in creative moments.[90]
Imran Ahmed of NME found Oracle to be "plain overbearing", and "a violent marriage of melody and brutality that makes for a highly uneasy listen".[28]Q magazine criticized the album as "one-dimensional" and "uninspired",[91] whilst Ben Mitchell of Blender dismissed it as "Entirely dispensable".[89] Conversely, Alternative Press saw Kittie as having "[moved] from novelty status to bone-crushing legitimacy",[88] and Ollie Appleby of Drowned in Sound lauded the album as "One of the best albums this year, one of the most together albums of the year, [and] one of the most (internally) varied albums of the year."[29]Robert Christgau gave the album a one-star "honorable mention" (), commenting: "when they are good they are horrid".[94]
Oracle placed 20th on Metal Hammer's "Albums of 2001" list.[95] Conversely, readers of Kerrang! voted the album as the tenth worst of 2001.[96] In September 2008, Hit Parader placed Oracle at number 82 on their list of "The Top 100 CDs of the 21st Century".[97] In 2024, Paul Travers of Metal Hammer ranked it as Kittie's best album.[98]
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^Steely, Robin (December 2002). "Kittie (Morgan Lander)". music-reviewer.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2007. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
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Anon. (May 10, 2002). "Upcoming New Releases: Rock"(PDF). HITS. Vol. 16, no. 793. p. 44. Archived(PDF) from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved March 17, 2023 – via worldradiohistory.com.
Anon. (December 28, 2002). "The Year in Music 2002". Billboard. Vol. 114, no. 52. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. YE-36. ISSN0006-2510. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2024.
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Catucci, Nick (December 2001). "Kittie: Oracle". SPIN. Vol. 17, no. 12. p. 154. Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
Correia, Frank (December 21, 2001). "Heavy for the Holidays"(PDF). R&R. No. 1433. p. 28 – via worldradiohistory.com.
Durham, Victoria (November 2001). "Kittie: Claws for Thought". Rock Sound. No. 30. UK: IXO Publishing Ltd. pp. 36–38.
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