When she was a kid, Mercedes Lander used to head out to the big, new houses in Byron on Halloween costumed as a cat.

Tonight, Kittie's drummer might be on the prowl somewhere in London because Halloween still has the woman who drives the London metal band in its spell.

"I went out as a cat a lot. I really like cats," Lander says. "My band's name is Kittie," she adds, amused by the metal coincidence or connection.

Lander and her bandmates have just come off the road. So she's home for Halloween.

Lander and her older sister, Kittie vocalist and guitarist Morgan Lander, Strathroy-area guitarist Tara McLeod and Toronto bassist Ivy Vujic finished the U.S. tour supporting In the Black (E1 Music) this week.

"It's a big leap for us, production-wise, songwriting-wise. A lot of people are noticing that the band is actually grown up now," Mercedes Lander says. "That's the plan. We want to grow as a band. We want to grow as musicians. It's nice to be recognized for that."

The new album is getting some of the best reviews in Kittie's decade-plus career. Kittie has sold more than 1.25 million albums in all.

In the Black is Kittie's fifth studio album. Not many -- make that, not nearly enough -- London bands get to release five albums or can look ahead to touring Europe in the New Year.

It's the first album in a three-album deal with E1 Music. For all its work on the road and media buzz, Kittie's sales in Canada are about 60,000, not a match in Canadian terms for their U.S. success.

"We have a label that's working for us now. It's nice to be working with people from Canada that actually want to push the album," Lander says of E1.

Work on the record was being completed as the band was stunned by the death of the Lander sisters' father and Kittie's manager, David A. "Dave" Lander in August, 2008. As Kittie and extended family of fans mourned, they met to celebrate his life with a show that rocked Call the Office in December.

It's difficult not to hear In the Black as being about Kittie's loss. But its songs were written before Dave Lander's death, says his younger daughter. The next album is likely to be the one that reflects their grieving.

"We're going to save that for the next album. That will definitely come out," Mercedes Lander says.

Kittie was fortunate to have a Goderich-based ally who produced, engineered and mixed In the Black in the summer of 2008. Beach Road Studios' Siegfried Meier was starting to mix In the Black when Dave Lander died. Meier's personal connection helped during a time of emotional turmoil.

So did Kittie's own strengths. The lineup has been steady for about two years. The Edmonton-born Lander sisters are the veterans of the first edition of Kittie which emerged in 1996 not long after the family had moved here from Brampton.

"Ivy's been in the band for two years now . . . Tara's coming up on five years," Mercedes Lander says. "These people are here for the band and not anything else."

Kittie's success and work ethic haven't always impressed Londoners as they should have. The Free Press and Kittie feuded for years. I was as guilty as anyone for prolonging the back-and-forth silliness with its taunts from us and ripostes of good interviews in other media by Kittie.

It all changed because Dave Lander decided to reach out and end the thing.

For me, it helped to listen to Kittie more. When Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, screened at the London Canadian Film Festival a few years ago, I heard envious murmurs of disapproval from fans in the full house when Morgan and Mercedes Lander -- our home town heroes -- were up there being interviewed in the same docuflick as Lemmy and Geddy Lee.

That prophets without honour in their own land treatment made me a Kittie fan right there.

So check out In The Black even if you think you don't like Kittie. If it helps, the record company says Kittie is "the world's only all-female metal act" and and the album "will certainly please the band's purest fans."

It more than pleased me.

After more than a decade, the young women of Kittie are finding new ways to sharpen their metal edge. They can still surprise.

Mercedes Lander, at the age of 25, is still up for a little trick-and-treat.

Last night, she was expecting to be over at a friend's, carving pumpkins.

Tonight, she might be out and about in a mask and simple costume and some "short" friends as a cover. Just because it's Halloween.

"I want to go out trick or treating. Is that weird? I'm old. I'm getting old," she says.

IN THE BLACK

Mercedes Lander likes all the tracks on Kittie's new album. She talked about three for The Free Press.

My Plague: "That song really kicks you in the face . . . That's also the first song we play live."

Sorrow I Know (the next single): "It really shows the growth of the band, musically. It's a waltz-time song. I love it. Three-four time is my favourite time in the entire universe. I love it so much."

Forgive and Forget: "That's the closer for live show."

MERCEDES LANDER'S PICKS

TV: True Blood, Dexter, Nip/Tuck

Movie: Where the Wild Things Are. "I haven't seen it yet. I heard it's amazing. That was my book when I was a kid. I love that book."

Music: "I still listen to CDs because I'm a weenie."

Hot new band: L.A.'s Bigelf. "We discovered them on tour so we've been rocking out to that the past little while."

Latest tattoo: A tour bus. On her arm. "It says 'tour till death' I'm going to be doing that for a long time. Now I can't stop touring."