Veruca Salt

Like the night-and-day Wakefield twins of Sweet Valley High fame, Veruca Salt main ladies Louise Post and Nina Gordon have taken great pains to distinguish themselves from one another since their 1998 split. The latter embarked on a saccharine-pop solo career, while Lou native Post cranked up the basslines and rumbling metal riffs after re-launching Veruca Salt with 2000's Resolver. Their new Sympathy for the Record Industry disc, VSIV, proves that Post and her band very well might be the missing link between the post-grunge femme fatalities of the 1990s and today's liberated metal grrrls — at least judging by their feral outbursts ("So Weird") and sweet-tart slow-burners ("Sick of Your Secrets").