Hard rock died some time ago, and now it’s just decaying. It’s a style that’s practiced by bands that go to Rock on the Range or make cameos on Spike TV shows. Amongst the rubbish, however, there’s one New Brunswick, New Jersey–based, hard rock–leaning trio that stands out: Screaming Females. This can largely be attributed to frontwoman Marissa Paternoster, who has enough talent and conviction in her guitar playing and voice that it seems inordinate to the genre’s precedence. However, it could be that accomplishment got the best of Screaming Females, because each song that makes up the band’s latest, Rose Mountain (Don Giovanni Records), falls short of fulfilling whatever potential it exhibits. The one exception and most prominent highlight is “Wishing Well,” the first cut shared ahead of the album’s release. Described by Paternoster as the band’s first “family-friendly” song, it’s a clear contender for best-of lists, while the rest of the album proves detached and unstapled.

The overarching issue with Rose Mountain is its constant imbalance, playing out like a jam session brainstorm that never entirely comes to fruition. As exemplified on the title track and “Ripe,” there are foot-stomping, majestic metal riffs reminiscent of Tool and Ozzy—only slit haphazardly with some Nirvana-esque verses. Then there’s the songs that might’ve killed 20 years ago, as they contain remnants of Smashing Pumpkins (“Broken Neck”), Alanis Morissette (“Hopeless”), or at best, Jane’s Addiction or a less metallic Dinosaur Jr. (“Triumph”) as source material. Screaming Females are still very much worth hearing and indeed may be a necessary, revitalizing listen for those who dig the genre. If only for “Wishing Well” or the gnarly solo on album-closer “Criminal Image,” Rose Mountain’s peculiar assembly of rock is worth hearing.