INVERTIA

Black metal and industrial collide in a butt-ugly conundrum where SKINNY PUPPY and GORGOROTH might be found rubbing elbows if such an unholy event provided itself. Dave Coppola and Tim Winson comprise INVERTIA, hurling themselves and any daring listeners into a five-song digital hell where organized religion leaders will be found twirling upon open fire spits. All of it gets remixed or outright restructured by counterculture artists Justin K. Broadrick (GODFLESH, JESU),End.user (BLOOD OF HEROES) and Submerged (BLOOD OF HEROES, METHOD OF DEFIANCE),plus R3TRD and Dave Coppola's alter ego, TranZi3nT.

There's nothing at all pretty about "Another Scheme of the Wicked", at least with the original compositions and most of the remixes. Coppola (guitars and vocals) and Winson (drums and programming) intimidate with a gruesome attack of dense chuffing, violent fret noodling and mechanized anti-rhythms designed to wear down even the most veteran listener. Coppola wields a massive axe and bass with appreciable hustle to his strumming. Watching him lay down his tracks in the studio must have been quite a sight, since one feels the ghastly velocity he lays down.

It's hard to escape feeling the brackish, electro-dusted aura of MINISTRY and SKINNY PUPPY behind Tim Winson's programming and beat scrambling. It rings of the faster material on MINSTRY's "Psalm 69" ("T.V. II", for instance) fed to a rabid dog to chew upon like the dickens. INVERTIA outdoes "T.V. II" on "They're Everywhere" at least in terms of annihilating force and impossible speed; impossible without the aid of electronic algorithms, shall we say. "They're Everywhere" is what it purports itself to be. Coppola and Winson pour everything they have like molten madness into their teemed-over cauldron. The eruption of this song is engulfing on all levels from Coppola's smooshing guitars and demon ralphs to Winson's flailing digi-flogs. In the midst of this apocalyptic nightmare comes a nattering soundbite mantra, "Jesus Christ can set you free," followed by mocking laugher.

Before all of that, "The Sidewinding" hurls and jerks its stop-go sequences filled with opaque guitar strokes and clobbering pulses. The nerve-wracking schisms produce instant paranoia as INVERTIA spews derisive dogma and sticks a proverbial foot in front of their listeners, tripping them into the cavernous evocation of "Cross-Eyed Christ". Dave Coppola breathes more dragon fire from both his frets and esophagus, producing a hell of a scary cadence.

The remixes on "Another Scheme of the Wicked" are to be confronted if you have an open mind. Metal purists aren't going to necessarily get on board with Justin K. Broadrick's soothing alt scape countering the original version of "The Sidewinding". It's an entirely different vision altogether, as is End.user's killer retooling of "Cross-Eyed Christ", which surrenders a lot more of the organic parts in exchange for a vibe ringing like a more metal-savvy ATARI TEENAGE RIOT. The TranZi3nT trip-hop remix of "Void of Community" is bit laidback in comparison to Coppola and Winson's original cut. Submerged might get dibs for retaining the most of INVERTIA's original intent with his "Hourglass of Sand" remix, even while looping and picking up the pace with a bouncing mutant dance groove.

Credit where it's due to INVERTIA. These guys are thinking outside the box and while their foundations go back to times that were more shocked by this God-bashing racket than they are now, "Another Scheme of the Wicked" gets under the skin and digs for arteries to slice. Sometimes the mixes of the original tracks get too mucky, but there's no denying INVERTIA is capable of sonic blowups that will test the mettle of more than a few.