THE problem with basing a band around a relationship is that when hubby takes a walk it tends to end the band.

But when Kat of Katastrophy Wife watched her husband and drummer Glen Mattson leave her and her group she determined that it would not be the end.

Bouncing back, and with her other half, Babes in Toyland, now permanently on hold, the new line-up of KW released album All Kneel this Monday preceded by double A side single, Blue Valient/Emit Time, the third single to be taken from the album.

The A side features the vocals of up-and-coming and very tuneful Brummie Carina Round who's recently attracted attention with her own LP, The First Blood Mystery.

Carina's smooth but sleazy voice sits surprisingly well with Kat's strangled yelps and screams.

The album is a swaggering, bottom heavy implosion of punk, rock and Kat's feminist polemics.

Like L7, Hole and Bikini Kill, Kat exerts a female twist over the macho world of heavy guitars and squealing vocals.

But unlike those bands and Courtney Love, she's neither faded away or sunk into the tabloid muck.

Often in South Wales, Katastrophy Wife remain a gigging concern, and All Kneel is a broadside on male arrogance as powerful as anything she did in Babes from their debut Spanking Machine (1990) through their three landmark albums Fontanelle (1993), Painkillers (1994), and Nemesisters (1995).

The spotlight might have shifted slightly from her since her trail-blazing 90s heyday but she's definitely a cat not for gutting, yet. l Katastrophy Wife play TJs, Newport on Tuesday, June 1. Dial 01633 216608 for more information.