I usually approach re-recordings with a very high degree of scepticism. At best, they’re harmless; at worst, they sound like an amateur cover band murdering songs you loved in your teens. 2025 gave us a particularly egregious example of how badly that can go with Five Finger Death Punch. So when Kittie announced “Spit XXV”, a four-track re-recording of material from their 2000 debut, my expectations were firmly in check.
What they’ve delivered, however, is the exception that proves the rule. Rather than a cynical cash-in, “Spit XXV” feels like a clarification. An opportunity for Kittie to show what these songs actually were, beneath the limitations of youth, budget and time. Recorded with the current line-up of Morgan Lander, Mercedes Lander, Tara McLeod and Ivy Vujic, and once again produced by Garth Richardson, the EP marks 25 years of “Spit” by revisiting four of its most iconic tracks with the benefit of craft and perspective.
It’s worth remembering what that original album represented. “Spit” was recorded in nine days on a shoestring, released in January 2000, and went gold in the US. An absurd achievement for a teenage Canadian band in the middle of nu metal’s testosterone-soaked heyday. It was scrappy, noisy, occasionally sloppy, and absolutely vital. Two and a half decades later, Kittie are no longer the anomaly on an Ozzfest bill; they’re veterans with a serious back catalogue and a well-received 2024 comeback album, “Fire”.
So, what do you do when the world finally seems ready to take you seriously? In Kittie’s case, you go back to the beginning, but you do it properly.
Opener “Spit XXV” sets the tone immediately. The iconic main riff remains intact, but the tone is thicker, more authoritative, and the groove sits deeper. Where the original sprinted with youthful urgency, this version strides. Mercedes Lander’s drums are the first major upgrade: the kick has weight, the snare cracks instead of clattering, and the overall performance feels locked rather than barely contained. Richardson and mixer Josh Wilbur (who also worked on Fire) give the track a low-end that the original could only hint at, while keeping the guitar tone suitably serrated.
Vocally, Morgan Lander is unrecognisable in the best possible way. The core character is still there with that mix of spit-flecked rage and melodic flair, but the control and power she brings now are on an entirely different level. Lines that once sounded like a teenager trying to claw through the mix now land as deliberate, precise strikes. You can hear 25 years of touring and recording in every phrase, and it suits the material perfectly. This isn’t an attempt to re-enact adolescence; it’s a grown woman reclaiming her own work.
If “Spit XXV” is the mission statement, “Do You Think I’m a Whore? XXV” is the proof of concept. Already one of the most vicious cuts on “Spit”, it emerges here as the EP’s centrepiece. The guitar tone is more modern, with a tighter low end and a slightly drier overall sound that puts the riff front and centre. The stop-start sections hit harder, the chorus slams rather than simply explodes, and the breakdown feels far more deliberate. It’s also where you really notice how much Ivy Vujic brings to the table because the bass isn’t just padding the guitars, it’s reinforcing the rhythmic spine.
“Brackish XXV” is arguably the biggest gamble. The original remains the defining Kittie song for many, ranked by Rolling Stone among the “100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time”, and still a touchstone for a generation of musicians who heard it when they needed it most. Re-recording something with that kind of emotional weight is usually a mistake. To their credit, Kittie lean into what made “Brackish” special rather than trying to fix what wasn’t broken.
The jungle/drum’n’bass undercurrent is still there, but it’s integrated more cleanly into the overall groove. The guitars have more bite, the chorus vocal is more secure, and the whole thing feels less like a chaotic experiment and more like a fully realised hybrid. Some will always prefer the ragged charm of the original; I found myself hearing details I’d never quite registered before, without losing the sense of danger that made the song so potent in the first place.
Closer “Charlotte XXV” is perhaps the most revealing track in terms of songwriting. Stripped of early-2000s production quirks, you realise just how well constructed this song always was. The dynamics are sharper, the build into the chorus is more pronounced, and the interplay between Tara McLeod’s leads and Morgan’s rhythms feels almost effortless. There’s a sense of space the original never quite managed, and it allows the song’s melancholy edge to come through more clearly. Classic Rock compared elements of the EP’s sound to Shadows Fall’s more melodic side; that comparison feels most apt here.
Crucially, “Spit XXV” never tries to erase or “correct” the past. The band and Richardson deliberately used much of the same equipment as the 1999 sessions, up to and including the original amps, and the material was tracked in fourteen days, not a lavish, endless studio odyssey, but enough time to honour the songs properly with the current line-up’s abilities. The result isn’t a glossy, anonymous modern metal production; it’s still rough-edged, still clearly rooted in late-90s alt/nu metal, just delivered with far greater authority.
From a fan’s perspective, that’s where this EP succeeds so decisively. These are songs many of us know inside out, that we’ve held close for 20-25 years. The danger with any re-recording is that it feels like someone repainting your favourite photograph. Here, it feels more like getting the high-resolution negative from the photographer. The shapes and expressions are the same, but now you can see the detail, the texture, the intent. It sounds less like Kittie covering Kittie, and more like Kittie finally sounding the way they always heard themselves in their heads.
Does that make “Spit XXV” essential for everyone? If you never connected with “Spit” in the first place, this EP won’t convert you. It is, unapologetically, a love letter to that era and those songs. But if you’re one of the many for whom “Spit” was a gateway, or if you’re arriving via “Fire” and wondering what all the fuss was about back in 2000, this release is invaluable.
I went into “Spit XXV” expecting, at best, a respectable curiosity. What I got instead is, ironically, one of the highest points in Kittie’s discography: four songs we already knew were strong, finally presented with the power, clarity and confidence they always deserved. This is how you do a re-recording. Everyone else should be taking notes.
Rating: 9/10
Release Date: 19 September 2025
Label: Sumerian Records
Writer: Andy
Tracklist:
- Spit XXV
- Do You Think I’m a Whore? XXV
- Brackish XXV
- Charlotte XXV
