To say that Some Girls' Epitaph debut, Heaven's Pregnant Teens, is a sonic assault from beginning to end is -- well, obvious. What else was really expected from this frantic and vicious grindcore fivesome? The album is a lesson in stamina, and invites the question as to whether the band will outlast the listener or vice versa. With no regard for easing delicate ears into the harsh realms of the disc, the band comes out of the gate growling and never lets up -- 13 tracks and 25 destructive minutes later, they are over and done. And considering that the last song is the album's longest at nine minutes, it's really no shock that most tracks hover around the one-minute mark. Fierce, gritty vocals shriek over layers of crashing drums and distorted guitars, producing a meandering musical atmosphere designed to taunt and brutalize the audience. The sometimes incomprehensible and seemingly nonsensical lyrics bubble over with dark, despairing, and often religious imagery, heard in lines like "And I am puking devil's blood/Lord do you love me" from "You'll Be Happier with Lower Standards." Even surviving the irritating half-minute of feedback that opens "Bone Metal" does not completely prepare the listener for the next track, "Marry Mortuary," which blasts in with enough intensity to rattle any unassuming brain. Arguably the calmest track on the record is a Public Image Ltd. cover, "Religion II," but what the song lacks in spastic energy is made up for in sheer intensity. Those still breathing near the record's end should watch out for the drawn-out closer, "Deathface," whose use of echoing, repetitive vocals and taunting guitars produces a head-spinning, eerie funhouse ride for the eardrums, where demented beings jeer from the shadowy sides. Heed caution: Heaven's Pregnant Teens will have fans of likeminded groups (e.g., the Locust) bowing down at the altar of Some Girls, while everyone else will be running to the exits. ~ Corey Apar

Rovi