{"id":105046,"date":"2025-06-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105046"},"modified":"2025-07-01T12:59:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T11:59:25","slug":"ep-review-a-cat-in-the-brain-a-cat-in-the-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-a-cat-in-the-brain-a-cat-in-the-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"A CAT IN THE BRAIN &#8211; A Cat In The Brain EP (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"title2\"><strong>A CAT IN THE BRAIN<br \/>\nA Cat In The Brain EP<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" height=\"3\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"title3\"><span style=\"color: #c80000;\">Self-released (2025)<\/span><br \/>\n<strong>Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"image floatedright\">\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/themes\/metalforces\/images\/spacer.gif\" width=\"10\" border=\"0\"><\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/acatinthebrain_acatinthebrainep.jpg\" height=\"200\" width=\"200\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<table width=\"100%\" align=\"center\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr valign=\"top\">\n<td>\n<div align=\"left\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<div align=\"right\"><span class=\"smalltext\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s with the ridiculous band name?\u201d I hear you say. Well, don\u2019t be too rapid in your judgement. The aficionados will tell you, and so will I, that <em>A Cat In The Brain<\/em> was the title of a cool 1990 Italian horror movie directed by one of the masters of the genre, Lucio Fulci.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s been a lot of Fulci worship going on over the last few years, particularly in the death metal scene with bands like Seven Doors and, more obviously, Fulci paying homage. A Cat In The Brain is an Italian combo who ply their trade in the murky waters of the death metal underground too and this self-titled offering is their debut EP.<\/p>\n<p>The opening title track is a blistering fair that has a hint of death-grind about it. The vocals are a muffled sort of squawk amidst the flurry of riffs and drums. When the mid-tempo slop gets thrown out the sick bucket there are elements of gore-grind as the band traipses through squelching gut mud to achieve their mucous mosh.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Nightmare Concert\u2019, an alternative title for the Fulci movie, begins with more ravenous percussion and rabid riffs, but the song follows a similar pattern to the previous, bringing a mid-tempo passage before the rush ensues. It\u2019s still engrossingly gross death metal and the closing \u2018Last Bloody Letter\u2019 is definitely the best of the three, coming across like a fetid leak from a congealed orifice. Slow, pus-filled and oozing, the vocals act as mere gasps of a dying, blood-curdling breath choking on its own fluids. The bass clangs in the darkness as a blanket of doom engulfs the air like a carpet of mould spores. It\u2019s murky, manky, dragging you into its own festering entrails.<\/p>\n<p>With a run time of just under 12 minutes, A Cat In The Brain\u2019s introduction to the scene is impactful, but more so through the squalid designs of the closing track. I look forward to what other compositions they vomit up<br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A CAT IN THE BRAIN A Cat In The Brain EP Self-released (2025) Rating: 6.5\/10 \u201cWhat\u2019s with the ridiculous band name?\u201d I hear you say. Well, don\u2019t be too rapid in your judgement. The aficionados will tell you, and so will I, that A Cat In The Brain was the title of a cool 1990 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5932,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-cat-in-the-brain","category-album-ep-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105047,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105046\/revisions\/105047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}