Kat

I

n Polish "kat" means executioner. Kat would prove to become one of the most important bands in Polish, but also, and East European, heavy metal, and has been cited as one of the precursors bands of thrash.

Founded in 1979, guitarist Piotr Luczyk invited drummer Ireneusz Loth, bassist Tomasz Jaguś and guitarist Ryszard Pisarski to join him in his new project. Initially, the band played instrumental music influenced by Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. In 1981, during the first edition of the Silesian Rock festival, the band found singer Roman Kostrzewski. By the time of their 1984 debut single, (translated to English) The Nights of Satan/The Last Train, guitarist Wojciech Mrowiec had completed line-up.

Metal and Hell, their debut album, came in 1986. A Polish-language version of the album was released as a limited album the same year, named 666. Soon after, Wojciech Mrowiec was fired from the band with no replacement until 1988's (in English) Breath of Extinct Worlds featuring Jacek Regulski on guitar. Conflict between Luczyk and Koszewski forced the band into hiatus by 1990.

Two years later, the group reformed with Krzysztof Oset (bass), Ireneusz Loth (druns), Roman Kostrzewski (drums) and Piotr Luczyk (1990) to release Ballads (1994). But the conflicts between Luczyk and Koszewski remained unresolved after the next release, (in English) Roses of Love Best Flourish on Graves (1996), and saw the band split again.

In 1999 Jacek Regulski died in a motorcycle accident.

After Somewhere in Poland (2004) Loth was fired, as well as Roman Kostrzewski. Mariusz Pretkiewicz took drums, while Jaros?aw Gronowski joined as a second guitarist (he previously had subbed for Luczyk during the Szydercze Zwierciadlo when Luczyk refused to attend claiming it was badly organized. Henry Beck would assume vocals. Mind Cannibals would follow in 2005. This new line-up was not taken well by many fans when Kostrzewski and Loth launched their own Kat cover band.

Acoustic - 8 Filmow, an all acoustic affair followed in 2014, with Without Looking Back and The Last Convoy arriving in 2019 and 2020 respectively.