Album Review
Screaming Females
All at Once
Don Giovanni
Marissa Paternoster knows how to make a racket. The leader of the window-rattling New Jersey trio Screaming Females plays vicious guitar, splitting the difference between punk fury and metal majesty, and sings with a controlled urgency guaranteed to command your attention (shades of Sleater-Kinney). Amid this thrilling storm of sound, it’s sometimes easy to overlook how good the band’s songs can be, but All at Once boasts a slew of great material, unleashing fiery anthems that are catchy, smart and relentless at once. On “Dirt” she exclaims, “I’ll medicate myself / So that the world can lie to me,” while “I’ll Make You Sorry” finds her asking, “Am I losing faith in my own anger?” Arguably Screaming Females’ best album, All at Once attacks complacency with electrifying noise.
