Asperity

Conservative Christianity and post-hardcore scree may seem like the most disparate of extremes, but the post-metal sextet Asperity has that juxtaposition beat. Asperity is tight and professional, and 5/6ths of its members are only juniors in high school. With an average age of 17, the Peoria-based "nü Christian" pummelcore band (think: Underoath) stomps through four songs of lacerating riffage and throat-tearing screams on its new EP, Writing the Pages. The message of the band is positive, although you'll need a "squeal lexicon" to debug the scream code embedded in the barbed vocals. Formally christened last January, Asperity started off like every other high school band — rehearsing, playing shows, and posting some demos on MySpace. But the band wasn't prepared for the response it got, getting upward of 16,000 hits a day on its MySpace page. "We have no idea where all the people came from," singer/screecher Daniel Beauvais says. "It's tapered off a bit, but people are starting to hit it again to check out the new stuff." Tapered off a bit. Uh, yeah, to around 3,000 listens a day, which is still impressive for a brand-new band full of guys who're barely old enough to buy tickets to R-rated movies.