December 4th, 2025
– Silver Kosmos
Noise Floor
Noise Floor is a monthly blog post for 88.7 the pulse, where I look into my favorite alternative albums and write about what makes me love them! Feel free to recommend your own directly to me at NoiseFloor4@gmail.com and you might just see your favorite get the attention it deserves.
Album Overview
The album for this January is Funeral for Yesterday, by Kittie. Kittie is most well known for their debut album, Spit, but Funeral for Yesterday is my favorite from their discography. This all woman Canadian band has been writing music from 2000 to today, and has experimented with multiple genres. While most of their albums are primarily death or nu metal, Funeral for Yesterday sticks out with its clean vocals and harmonies, all while keeping the gnarly riffs.
The album came out in 2007, and performed well enough to reach the US billboard 200, sitting at a comfortable 101. Due to its radical shift in their discography, it received critical reception with some fans and critics liking the focus on the vocals, while others hated the lack of gut wrenching screams the band had become synonymous with. The one flaw I see in it is the similarity between songs; I often mix tracks up with their rather interchangeable songwriting and comparable choruses.
Simply Good | Breathe
Breathe is the second song on the album. It starts off really strong with a Crash hit and the riff, and I love the little pause before the first verse. It’s got a lot of forward motion in the verse, and chorus with high bpm and busy drums; The prechorus in between is essential to keep the song fresh, with the sudden half time it lets you catch up to the song. Around 2 minutes in it completely dissolves in a heavily processed bridge, before pulling you back into a final chorus. This song plays with tempo in such a fun way and is one of my favorites on the album because of it.
Personal Favorite | Everything That Could Have Been
My favorite song on the album is Everything That Could Have Been. It’s an earworm to me and is often stuck in my head months after having actually heard it. I love the rich vocal harmonies in the chorus and how the drums in the verse roll into each snare hit, before letting it breathe. I love how the song feels like it speeds up in the chorus just by changing up the rhythm. I always notice the simple lead guitar notes in the prechorus that build up tension before the chorus.
The guitar solo is so beautiful; It isn’t too flashy, but each note really sits in. Right after the solo a brief acapella section jumps in and gives me shivers every time. The song ends on a short fading out drone instead of cutting off cold, and the next song slowly fades in. This little feature ties the two together when listening as an album.
First Screams | Never Again
This album may have more clean vocals than other kittie albums, but the screams it does have are used very well. The rest of the songs I’ll cover will all include distorted vocals. The first words you hear are growled out, and only the chorus is clean. I love the drum part in the prechorus; Small half time sections are a staple of this album, and they work so well every time. The cowbell in the bridge always surprises me, but it works better than you’d think on such an album. Right before the final chorus, the riff is teased. It’s a simple tension builder but it’s the little things that make an album what it is.
Unique | This Too Shall Pass
I like how hectic the verse riff is. My favorite part of the song is the dynamic of the main vocals and counter vocals in the chorus. The stacked harmonies on one side, and a simple, very filtered response on the other create a unique soundscape and I haven’t heard much like it. The ending has the harmonies with the root melody replaced with growls, an interaction absent from the rest of the song. Right after the growl leaves the harmonies just alone, ending the song on the words, “this is final”, which i find really poetic.
Rewind and Review
Although I had less to say about individual songs on Funeral for Yesterday than I had for the previous entries, this doesn’t diminish my love for this album. I really enjoy how Kittie uses vocal harmonies and half time in this album, and it’s chalk full of earworms.
Most of the clean vocal only songs are situated at the front of the album, easing you into the heavier songs at the end. This was my inspiration for arranging this article how I did.
Wild Card | Flower of Flesh and Blood
January’s wild card pick is Flower of Flesh and Blood. Another song with distorted vocals, but that’s not my favorite part of the song. My favorite part is the haunting harmonies in the chorus. The complexity of the harmonies lets the vocals set the chords, while the guitar acts more as a percussion instrument. My only gripe with this song is I wish it was longer. It’s only 2 minutes, which is the shortest on the album; I feel its ideas could’ve been explored further if it was 3 or 4 minutes long. The solo is good, but it’s not followed or preceded by a bridge like most of the other songs on the album, not giving it, or the chorus, room to breathe.
Ribbon Bow
That’s all for the month! Check back in on February 4th for the next issue. If you leave a recommendation at NoiseFloor4@gmail.com it might just be an album you love! Have an amazing January and a great start to your New Year!
