Proto-riot grrrls in prog rock shocker! It's taken Sleater-Kinney, three girls who set their fiery feminist ideology to a raw, screeching soundtrack, seven albums to discover the delights of a guitar solo - but it's been worth the wait. As the 11-minute opus Let's Call it Love travels from controlled lust to breathless abandon and back again, Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker's guitars plunge deep into dirty rock'n'roll, throwing out sharp chords as they traditionally do slogans, closer to Led Zeppelin than Bikini Kill. Brownstein's voice still seethes with sex, defiance and heartbreak, her life-endangering shrieks a goose bump-inducing thrill, but now she's matched by thunderous basslines, the production turned up to 10.
Ominous nursery rhyme The Fox becomes a fuming morality tale, Brownstein's warnings complemented by a whirlpool of noise. The metaphor-heavy Rollercoaster - love as food, relationships as a vomit-inducing ride - has sweet vocals and a stomach-churning rhythm. Though the guitars sometimes get a little too intoxicated on their new freedom, this is a makeover that finally does the band's melodies proud.
