DVD Review: "Extreme Guitar Shred" by The Great Kat

by Rick Landers

Macho shredders beware: The Great Kat will skewer you, tear you apart note by note, dine on your bleeding wounds, then lick your blood off her high velocity paws before she yawns.

Every track on "Extreme Guitar Shred" is a full frontal assault, exploding with blazing lines from the likes of Wagner, Liszt, and Sarasate. "The Ride of the Vakyries," for example, unleashes a mass of stampeding hellions at warp speed with The Great Kat's violin and guitar work firing off rounds that overwhelm everything in their path.

Born Katherine Thomas, she's been absorbing Beethoven since birth and started classical piano at age 7. By 9, she was studying classical violin in New York and at 15 was impressing the faculty at the prestigious Julliard School of Music. She's played at the Carnegie Recital Hall as a solo violinist and won the exclusive Artists International Competition.

However, that was then.

At some point, Katherine Thomas realized that although she is the incarnation of Beethoven, standard classical music is dead and the electric guitar is alive.

The Great Kat was born.

Since then, she's clawed her way to the top of neo-classical metal shred, lick by lick, riff by riff - a maniacal mad-woman with sharp talons and shock troop chops.

The Great Kat is on a mission to re-ignite the world of classical music around the globe through her guitar work. She sees the current state of classical music as dead and ripe for a re-birth. But, we're not talking about a Saturday afternoon at Carnegie Hall. The Great Kat's goal is world domination and this musical lioness is taking no prisoners.

In the hands of The Great Kat, the electric guitar and violin serve as weapons of mass destruction. Her work, echoing masters such as Bach, Vivaldi, and Rossini, compels the listener to return to the originals to find out what started this war.

Her quest to globalize "Shred/Classical" music is a calling she takes seriously and pursues with outrageous abandon. She's been called the "High Priestess of Shred" and Guitar One magazine rated her one of the "Top 10 Fastest Shredders of All Time". However, The Great Kat prefers to think of herself as "...a maniac, and a god, and a messiah, all rolled into one."

For gonzo shredders and those who have an appreciation for classical motifs, this DVD is highly recommended. It is both aurally and visually...extreme.

Related link

The Great Kat online: www.greatkat.com