The Breeders’ newest album “All Nerve” is like Sleater Kinney with its teeth filed down. A little softer, a little colder, the alt-rock trio has placed a heavier and more emotional addition atop their previous punk albums.

The Breeders have been around the block. First formed in 1989 by Kim Deal of the Pixies, the band has a history of calling it off, making amends and releasing a “breakthrough” album. The result is a long line of albums that may feel like different sides of the same object.

But “All Nerve” goes into the deeper and darker, with riffs that heavily recall the early nineties and wispy vocal stylings in the vein of The Cranberries or Nirvana. Tracks like “Wait in the Car” could serve a workout playlist or a stroll, while songs like “Spacewomen” are more intimate and poignant.

The Breeders are more than a comparison to what was or what they’ve done. They’re using modern angst and holding it up to a low-burning flame. They’re angry, and they know what they’re angry about, and that’s what’s genius about them.

“All Nerve” is heady and echoing. Most of the tracks are simple constructions easily felt. They draw in serpentine, with circling bass lines and heavy hitting drums. The tracks work because they’re well-weighted with the tension between opposites: hot and cold, fast and slow, amorous and depressive.

“All Nerve” comes on like strange, placeless anxiety and leaves just as quickly. “Nervous Mary” is perhaps more emblematic than the title track. It hits hard and fast but leaves enough space to sustain the right amount of tension necessary to support itself. The lyricism shines through here, making up for the places it thins out later: “My tread in my lows/ Black lung in my hand/ West, by God/ Virginia in my head.”

The Breeders have tried to take on pop and indie tonalities in recent years, but “All Nerve” seems to be proof that they’re more comfortable at home, playing punk-rock in Kim and Kelley Deal’s metaphorical garage.

Tracks that brought the band into the popular scene are songs like “Cannonball” and “Do You Love Me Now?” off of the album Last Splash. The Breeders, in many ways, are mothers of the femme-punk movement.

Their history has kept a place for them on the stage, despite the fact that “All Nerve” may not be as on-the-mark as their younger albums. But it is close enough to warrant a 7.1 from Pitchfork, and it’s worth checking out if you like to keep up with today’s               newest releases.