Pregnant With the Senior Class

Collecting the entirety of their work into one handy package, Pregnant starts out flailing with "Witch Hunt Scene From Star Trek" and proceeds to not let up, as that would be wrong. Thankfully, the band's intensity isn't only measured in total volume abuse and bloodcurdling, throat-shredding screaming, though that's a fair part of what's on offer. As a result, that Bauhaus' "Stigmata Martyr" would get covered here isn't as curious as it might initially seem. Angel Hair's brute thrashing and impassioned shrieking definitely has a dramatic flavor to it, and tackling one of the most musically and lyrically extreme numbers the British group ever came up with makes perfect sense when the results are heard. A clever sample of Peter Murphy's original singing at the end makes things all the more stressed out. Vocals don't aim for intelligibility here or anywhere else on Pregnant, but the lyrics are clearly secondary to the experience as a whole when it comes to Angel Hair. Even at the members' relatively slowest and calmest, such as the ominous trudge and feedback whine of "The Wax Museum," this is anything but easy listening. When the group does allow some room to breathe in its songs, the result is generally much more successful than the more full-on numbers. Thus "Space Ape" and its steady, powerful crunch or the loping bass beginning of "Pre-Supermodel" have a greater impact over the sheer screamouts on "Witch Hunt Scene From Star Trek," for example. Once or twice the group even sound like the goal is shaking a groove thing rather than flailing, at least if the hipshaking rhythms on "You Were Ugly But You Got Cute" are any indication. The untitled bonus track at the end is actually one of the strongest; a nasty, fantastic cut.