An admirable but not entirely fulfilling effort,
Gato Negro
encapsulates the somewhat squandered career of its creators. The final
7 Year Bitch
lineup of
Selene Vigil
(vocals,)
Valerie Agnew
(drums,)
Roisin Dunne
(guitars) and
Elizabeth Davis
(bass) released
, their last recording in 1996 for
Atlantic Records
.
Dunne
and
Davis
provide powerful
post-grunge
garage rock
that transcends the
punk
categorization often (and inappropriately) assigned to the band. But
Agnew
's playing is a minor disappointment as her fractured drumming fails to supply the support her bandmate's fine riffing deserves.
's fractured
rock
revolves around
Vigil
's toxic, wildly unpredictable yelping. The frontwoman remains intense throughout
, really getting her vocal act together on highlight tracks
"Miss Understood"
"Whoopie Cat."
When she's at her best,
roars along with her band, creating music imbued with feral anxiety. Too often, things get off-track rhythmically;
tries to go it alone, and the band flounders as
's erratic pounding fails to keep it all together. To be clear, this is an above average record, but
is not equal to the potential sum of its parts. ~ Vincent Jeffries