Rose Mountain
Screaming Females started from the bottom of a New Jersey basement, but it wasn’t long before they were big enough to tour with bands like Against Me! and Garbage. The trio’s sixth album is a rocker’s delight, reviving the signature sludge of the Nineties on “Empty Head,” hightailing into thrash territory for “Ripe” and easing into groovy prog splendor on “Burning Car.” Boasting no-frills production by Matt Bayles (Pearl Jam, Mastodon), the album runs like a souped-up, punked-out station wagon, high on the fumes of nostalgia. As always, frontwoman Marissa Paternoster’s winding guitar solos and dogged vibrato vocals steal the show.