Kittie’s fourth album Funeral for Yesterday drowns out all talented instrumentation with the singer’s grating voice and jarring screaming.

As the title and the album’s pictures suggest, Funeral for Yesterday revolves around the theme of death, but with little coherency and even less melody. Lyrics such as “the lady burns,” “your skin is turning blue,” and “this curse is endless like the vacant in your eyes,” all paint a rather dismal picture. Thankfully, the listener is only able to catch a fraction of what is sung, which keeps such messages solely for those dedicated enough to look up the lyrics.

The four Canadian band members include the two founding sisters, who, according to Morgan Lander, the vocalist listed in Kittie’s press packet, “refining ideas in their collective subconscious enhanced the end result.” The discontinuity within the album proves that their subconscious was not up to par. The drummer and electric guitarist have definite potential, but unfortunately the listener’s appreciation is dimmed by Lander’s inability to produce any sound worthy of such instrumentation.

Kitties’s press packet proclaim “Flower of Flesh and Blood” as “the best display of the ladies’ skills.” Within the first second, the listener receives a shock with Lander’s shrill shrieks about a symbolic flower and how she will “tear the petals off of you.” While the melody is much better and there are some good guitar rifts, as soon as the song begins to redeem itself, the screaming resumes and completely ruins the ambiance.

Lander boasts that when listening to her music, “you can bang your head and sing along,” Singing along might be difficult, but there is definite head-banging capability with the songs “Never Again” and “Witch Hunt.” While “Never Again” starts off with interesting drum work, Lander’s screaming is hard to ignore and becomes quite tiresome after 45 seconds without reprieve. “Witch Hunt” is even harsher with pure yelling to initiate the song, and lyrics about witches burning and drowning. The Salem Witch trials were 300 years ago, and while there is a symbolic reference, the theme was poorly chosen.

In “Will to Live,” the singing and the instrumentation are disconnected as the instrumentation does not follow the vocalist. This makes it hard for the listener to associate with any part, leading to a sense of frustration and annoyance.

“Sweet Destruction Interlude” is by far the softest song, and the one in which Lander finally proves that she has the ability to sing in a coherent and pleasant way. While one can actually understand Lander’s words, the lyrics only detract from the sweet melody with “this weakness, it’s becoming me,” and “lies, destruction, be the death of me.”

As a whole, the album is the quintessential heavy metal scream fest. While I am not an avid hard rock fan, I do appreciate such bands as Godsmack and Disturbed. Yet, Kittie lacks what other successful groups in their genre succeed in obtaining — memorable melodies and lyrics.