Screaming Females: Rose Mountain (Don Giovanni) Review

Screaming Females

Rose Mountain

Don Giovanni

Mar 27, 2015 Screaming Females By Scott Dransfield

Screaming Females inevitably get compared to Sleater-Kinney. Both are power trios, both play loud, simple indie rock, and both are led by women who absolutely wail. But Screaming Females are probably more indebted to Dinosaur Jr., due in no small part to frontwoman Marissa Paternoster’s terrific guitar solos. She can shred with the best of them, and the group’s last full-length, Ugly, featured some seriously gnarly licks. It was also produced by underground rock’s best purveyor of rough edges, Steve Albini.

The new album, Rose Mountain, has another producer behind the boards, Matt Bayles of Minus the Bear, and he helps the Females reach a new accessibility while keeping their talent for head-bashing basement-punk intact. Many of these 10 songs are slower or softer than the trio’s previous output, and they balance Rose Mountain‘s overall effect very nicely. “Wishing Well” is an instant classic, sounding like the best ‘90s indie-rock this side of Superchunk. “Hopeless” is almost a power ballad, but it ends before it gets too overblown.

Of course, Screaming Females still know how to kick total ass, and there’s no shortage of fuzzy ragers and killer riffs. “Ripe” and “Burning Car” both threaten to go off the rails, and “Triumph” is one of the best rock songs of the year so far, with an undeniable groove and a killer guitar lead. It’s the perfect climax to an album that threatens Sleater-Kinney’s claim to 2015’s indie-punk throne. (www.screamingfemales.com)

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