Veruca Salt: Resolver : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

"I am not the same as before," says Louise Post at the opening of Veruca Salt's first album in three years. There's reason to believe her: Post is the only original Veruca Salt member left since co-singer and guitarist Nina Gordon split in 1998. The band's fluctuating fortunes -- its tenure as a one-hit wonder, thanks to 1994's "Seether," was followed by a rank sophomore CD and some internal strife -- have left their impressions on Resolver. Like Veruca Salt's first two albums, Resolver fuses Breeders buzz pop with heavy-metal histrionics, but Post's songwriting has acquired some spontaneity. The confessional sorrow that oozes from the line "You have shamed me since the first time you were with her" (on "Disconnected") certainly sounds more genuine than the band's old formulaic angry-grrrl posturings. The new lineup has also abandoned much of the guitar sludge that blighted 1997's Eight Arms to Hold You in favor of subtler riffs and the occasional tremulous keyboard line. These small tweaks probably aren't enough to restart Veruca Salt's pop career, but they could be promising signs of a more credible future. (RS 843)

NEVA CHONIN