IV

A great album by a (slightly) forgotten band. I hadn't listened to Veruca Salt for a while, and hadn't realised there was an album after 'Resolver'. When I spotted 'IV' on Amazon it was a no-brainer to buy it. Variations in musical style throughout, and a bit of a forray into a heavier style than their earlier grunge-pop-rock.

After six years of virtual silence - interspersed with the odd tour of Australia - Louise Post and Veruca Salt finally return to making records, and although not as good as their first two (but then not much is) it is considerably stronger than previous effort "Resolver". Anyone who feared she might have mellowed out are immediately dispersed with the opening four song salvo, with "Centipede" sounding like AC/DC with added oestrogen and the guitars on all tracks being right upfront in the mix along with their trademark backing vocals. "Perfect Love" drops the tempo somewhat with washes of acoustic before "Closer" comes in sounding curiously like Britpop femmes Elastica; "Damage Done" features a riff right up there with their heaviest and the album also contains two tracks from the fan-only EP release "Lords of Sounds and Lesser Things"; the piano-led "The Sun" and Nirvana referencing "Save You". The closing cut is an eight-minute epic"Salt Flat Eric" which promises much but unfortunately doesn't quite deliver but despite this disappointing ending I'm proud to say that the best female fronted rock band of the Nineties have returned more impressively that any of there fans (I hope there are more of us out there) could have hoped for.Louise Post sounds stronger vocally than she has for ages and in Stephen Fitzpatrick she has found a songwriting foil that she's lacked since falling out with former partner Nina Gordon. If only more girls were encouraged and promoted to play the guitar and rock out - the world would be such a better place to live in.

after a long wait and a sparkling teaser (2005's independently released 'lords of sounds and lesser things') veruca salt followed up with this bulky, muscular full length effort. boasting tight guitars and louise posts trademark razor sharp lyrical content, IV is ultimately let down by a standard and unimaginative production that manages to quash the character that veruca salt are so famous for.