When Sub Pop announced that it was releasing remastered versions of all seven Sleater-Kinney albums in a collection called Start Together (out now; see subpop.com), at first it seemed an appropriate way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the formation of Olympia’s groundbreaking riot-grrl trio. Turns out it’s less a retrospective than a teaser: The limited-edition colored-vinyl set also includes a white 7-inch single labeled 1/20/15—the street date for the trio’s first album in nearly 10 years. The single, “Bury Our Friends,” is a sneak peek at the forthcoming release, titled No Cities to Love.

“Bury Our Friends” represents a more melodic approach to songwriting, a far cry from the noisiness of “Let’s Call It Love” off its last album, The Woods. Yet over its career, Greil Marcus notes, while other punk bands “substitute technique for bravado,” Sleater-Kinney “has grown not out of ferocity, but into it.” It’s a process that endows the group with the enduring credibility it has now.

In the vanguard of the ’90s feminist punk movement, Sleater-Kinney had to fight an uphill battle against a male-dominated music scene, and noise was its weapon of choice. At the time, the band’s empowering messages fell so far outside the mainstream that only the most visceral music would do. In the remastering process for Start Together, engineer Greg Calbi helped to uncover noise that had been latent in the originals.

That prowess has not waned since the group went on “indefinite hiatus” in 2006. Portlandia introduced a new wave of fans to Carrie Brownstein, who was simultaneously juggling a new role in Wild Flag, the rock project she shared with SK drummer Janet Weiss (who was also touring with her lo-fi duo, Quasi). Corin Tucker took time off to raise her children and release what she called “middle-aged mom music” with her eponymous band. But none of these projects achieved the popular or critical acclaim of the original trio, which was greater than the sum of its parts. The list of (quickly selling-out) 2015 tour dates on sleater-kinney.com offers fans a chance to experience their legendary live energy either once again or, for rock enthusiasts late to the party, for the first time.

music@seattleweekly.com