By Will C., Southern Fried Gamer

When I hear the words Juilliard trained. I think symphony orchestras, and people in tutus dancing on their tip toes to Swan Lake. I don’t think of someone shredding on a guitar faster than your heart would beat as if you ate a couple pounds of espresso beans, but that is what you get with Katherine Thomas. She is a violin virtuoso, and Juilliard graduate. On stage she is The Great Kat, one of the fastest, face melting guitarists of all time.

Our site had the press release come across, about her Shred/Classical CD’s coming to iTunes, and being the music whore that I am, I bit. Besides loving music, I really love mash-ups. Peanut Butter and Jelly, hearing Run Dmc rap over Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” and learning I could make a whole cyborg army from parts of different Gi Joe figures who fell in battle, with the help of a little screw driver. So, the thought of Beethoven played at blistering fast speed, was right up my alley. First off, I will admit this is not my normal style of music, but thanks to the video game Rock Band, I have learned to expand my musical horizons. Like I said I am no expert on this kind of music, this is just one music lovers thoughts. I checked out her album Wagner’s War. The first thing I noticed was, that wasn’t the normal shred music that can blur the lines from music to just noise. It started off with Wagner’s “The Ride of the Valkyries” an instantly familiar song to anyone who hears the famous melody. The production value astounded me. There about a million different things going on at mind boggling speeds, but it all kinda slowed down and became clear. It was amazing how good it sounded, I am still in shock. It is not just your average shred guitar, there is a full orchestra of sounds backing her, and when she pulls out the violin it is amazing.

It has total of seven songs, with scatterings of classical standards and re-imaginings and moves along till its short 12 minute ending. Musically the album is great, I wasn’t a fan of the singing/screaming but like I said this isn’t my normal style of music, so I won’t hold it against it. I let my neighbor and his friends give it a listen, since they play in a little band that plays this kind of music, and I got these quotes back.

“It was f**k*n awesome.”

“I can’t believe how fast that chick is.”

“Man, she would embarrass us.”

So, I guess it was an all around winner. If this is your kind of music, or you want your curiosity to kill your cat. Check out the Great Kat. You can find her stuff on iTunes, or you can go to her site WWW.Greatkat.com

 

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