Well, this certainly isn't your average, everyday pop record. But it's rather difficult to figure out if it's actually any good or not. This might be the loudest record I've ever heard, with the signal regularly clipping and distorting whenever the beat demands (which is most of the time). But interestingly, throughout the course of the album, the mix still manages to be dynamic, because loud isn't really loud unless there is also quiet. Unlike so many so-called "loudness war" victims, Sleigh Bells actually uses the clipping and distortion that comes along with recording too loudly as an instrument unto itself. Every beat and instrument on Treats pounds like a thousand jackhammers into your ears. It's certainly an interesting approach, and in a way it was inevitable that somebody did it at some point, but is it really enjoyable?

That's hard to say; for the most part, the songs themselves are very enjoyable and the melodies are very catchy in a kind of sing song-y way; I could definitely see these songs being sung by the cheerleaders on the album cover. The vocals are delivered with that cool-under-pressure, indie-pixie-girl singing style that's been so popular recently, which contrasts with the piercing noise really well. Award for best song goes to "Rill Rill," which updates Funkadelic's "Can You Get To That?" for the 2010's; it's a really dreamy song that stays with you after it's over. Or at least, it would if the next song wasn't "Crown On The Ground." "Crown On The Ground" stretches the noise on the album to its absolute breaking point. It pounds harder then everything else on the record, and everything other than the vocals are overdriven into infinity – it gives me a headache, to say the least. But even with that song, it's hard to deny how much it rocks and how hooky the melody is. The same goes for album opener "Tell 'Em" and "Infinity Guitars.”

A few tracks, namely "Straight A's" and "A/B Machines," get off on punk energy more than anything else, and so they don't work quite as well as the other tracks (though it's still up for debate whether the other tracks work at all either) and they drag the album down a little. The marching band arrangement on the title track ends the disc well, while once again conjuring images of a twisted pep rally as imaged on the album cover.

At barely 30 minutes long, this album is mercifully short, which is good news, since the noise starts to seriously grate on my ears by the end and I'm not sure how much more I could take if it was any longer. Even if I was okay with all the racket, I still worry for the fate of my speakers – seriously, this release should come with a warning to not play on fragile speakers or headphones. So on one hand, Treats is an obnoxious headache-inducing disaster of an album that will clear a party in seconds, and on the other hand it's an album by a band with a unique approach and a knack for cutesy hooks. I can't really recommend Treats, but you might as well check it out for the novelty factor. Sleigh Bells have recently gotten really popular among the hipster scene and I doubt they'll be going away anytime soon, but I hope that when the time comes for their second release, they seriously consider toning it down a little.

Rating: C

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