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May 30, 2019 L7 By James Thornhill

Grunge-era trailblazers L7 have returned with their first album in 20 years, Scatter the Rats, and it’s exactly what fans would’ve expected! Crushing, juggernaut riffs, pounding beats, and snarled vocals calling out the rats, the fakes, and the poseurs.

The problem with Scatter the Rats is that L7 is better than simply delivering the expected. Predictability has never been a currency that this band of riot girls (they were never really part of the riot grrrl scene mould—note the very deliberate different spellings) has dealt in.

This isn’t the sound of the band who caused some of rock music’s most controversial moments. The Reading festival tampon incident should be a myth, but it isn’t! But all that is a distant memory listening to their newest release.

It recalls their vital early to mid-‘90s output Smell the Magic and Bricks Are Heavy but has lost the snarling, fractured power that made it so potent. L7 always felt like a band on a mission of self-destruction intent on bringing all the misogynists and haters with them. On Scatter the Rats, they feel like a band reminiscing about those days from a safe distance.

Ironically the strongest moment here comes on “Holding Pattern,” where the crushing riffs are replaced with jangly guitar and swaying, summery power balladry. This is L7 in Throwing Muses territory rather than their usual residency in hard rock.

Glimmers of L7’s past, glorious power do shine through on the kinetic lead-guitar work on “Stadium West” and the driving punk energy of “Garbage Truck.” “Proto Prototype” is the atypical L7 snarled rant against those who try to force agendas and tell them how to live. “Don’t need your Venn diagram,” snarls Suzi Gardner over big grunge riffs, bathed in fuzz.

But Scatter the Rats, at times does veer close to the edge of parody. “Murky Water Cafe” is almost cringeworthy with its line “Free Wi-Fi come on down” sounding less like the voice of rebellion and more like a middle-aged moan about the “youth of today.” It is in moments like this that the L7 of the past is overshadowed by a band, grasping on to relevancy whilst simply going through the motions to achieve it.

We live in a time when feminist punk is in an era of vital re-emergence, with bands picking up the torch lit by L7. But Scatter the Rats is unlikely to inspire much at all, being little more than an acceptable addition to their catalogue.

It’s a shame, their comebacl singles “I Came Back to Bitch” and “Dispatch From Mar-a-Lago” felt like L7 were set for a mighty return to setting fire to the patriarchy. The latter single steamrolled through the gates of Trump’s private country club, burning it down from the inside. Neither tune features here, and nothing on Scatter the Rats lights a fire quite like them.

L7 always need to be given credit and respect but Scatter the Rats is not them at their best. They are a raucous, subversive, and vital voice in rock, but this album doesn’t show that. It should be a footnote on a career that is more important than this. (www.l7theband.com)

Author rating: 5/10