"Simple feeling!" shouts Erika Wennerstrom, slurring the phrase until she's slinging gibberish. Um, maybe they aren't so simple? Her band's crushing fourth LP sets the quartet alongside Ohio kin the Black Keys as front-line blues-rock modernists, with her writhing vocals at the center; she works the vowels on "Marathon" with the focus of a woman who knots cherry stems with her tongue. Meanwhile, guitars scald: "Parted Ways" recalls Television's jam punk, "Got to Have Rock and Roll" is muddy-booted glam, "Down in the Canyon" is seven minutes of countrified doom metal. It's lifer rock from a new generation.

Listen to "Parted Ways":

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• Photos: Random Notes

“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”