SCREAMING FEMALES - Desire Pathway

Screaming Females, the New Jersey trio obsessed with (all) the sounds spanning Nineties and early-2000s rock, are now celebrating their eighteenth year of activity, drawing on a rich songbook of genres that seems to keep expanding from one record to the next. Once protégés of Steve Albini, who worked alongside them on the solid "Ugly" (2012), and currently under the wing of producer Matt Bayles (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mastodon), singer-guitarist Marissa Paternoster, drummer Jarrett Dougherty and bassist Mike Abbate have returned with their eighth effort "Desire Pathway", a lean record focused mainly on chasing new, somewhat more radio-friendly formulas compared to the past.

The electric(ronic) jolts and big guitar riffs of the excellent opener "Brass Bell" move between alt-rock and Nineties power-pop, nodding to Kim Deal's Breeders, hitting hard with grunge echoes of L7 and Veruca Salt, and veering into metal territory in the instrumental sections. The following "Desert Train" banks on speed and a pop-punk core traceable to Green Day, Sum 41 and, last but not least, Brody Dalle's Distillers; things slow down with the heavy bassline of "Let You Go", a guitar-driven track that returns to a more "metallic" path, where Marissa's vocals look to Shirley Manson, voice of Garbage (with whom the trio collaborated on a cover of Patti Smith).

The harmonies and progressive drive of "Beyond The Void" take vague inspiration from symphonic metal, resolving into a catchy chorus, before conjuring those late-Nineties/early-2000s vibes once again, with the focus shifting to the bass lines of the catchy "Mourning Dove" and the assertive drive of the shorter "It's All Said And Done", where Paternoster's command of her vocal range really stands out.

The triumphant, slightly nostalgic air of "Ornament" once again embraces the anthemic form of power-pop and pop-punk, before making a sharp change of pace with the bare-bones "So Low", an anomaly held together by little more than a few acoustic guitar arpeggios and the frontwoman's voice.

The album closes out on the post-grunge wave of "Let Me Into Your Heart", whose noisy ending tilts slightly towards shoegaze reminiscences, and the alt-rock of "Titan", which winks at the Pearl Jam of "Vitalogy". Lyrically, Screaming Females fail to match the quality level reached on the previous "All At Once" (2018); on the other hand, "Desire Pathway" turns out to be a much more compact work that still makes for an enjoyable listen. What stands out most is the trio's tremendous versatility when it comes to sound, but the goal of holding a steady course isn't fully achieved, especially in the second half, where several good ideas are offset by one too many nostalgic, catchy misfires.

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29/04/2023