**** Great Balls of Fire *** Good Vibrations ** Maybe Baby * Running on Empty : Swans Songs

*** SWANS. “Children of God.” Caroline. This New York art/sludge-rock quintet has said this ambitious double album can be taken either as a condemnation or advocacy of religion, but primary lead singer Michael Gira’s vocals sound more like tortured souls than heavenly choirs. And with tempos that rarely exceed dirge pace and anguished lyrics of compulsion and culpability, it can be hell (pardon the expression) to get through these 70-plus minutes. But the effort is worth it: Showing remarkable musical growth from the headache-inducing noise of earlier efforts, the band crafts a wide spectrum of sounds, from the somber chamber-folkiness of “In My Garden” to the wide-screen drama of “Beautiful Child,” which sounds like it could have come from the score of “Spartacus.” By the time you get to the closing title song--a rigid, indelible psychedelic hymn--the compulsion is to listen to the whole thing again.