CHRIST INVERSION

So here it is, long years after we heard the name murmured in rumors, or mentioned in ever-more-contentious PANTERA interviews... CHRIST INVERSION's "Obey the Will of Hell" recording, knocked down to a self-titled CD and released among the masses at last. Expect a sickening miasma of New Orleans sludge, old-school horror death metal and early black metal gloom, all delivered with a vomitous, redlined "production" and a creepy, creaking vibe that's held up well and still evokes a timeless, restless kind of dread.

Phil Anselmo delivers lurching, zombified riffs, while NECROPHAGIA/GRAVEYARD RODEO man Wayne Fabra ludicrously shreds his vocals in the over-the-top, wild-eyed, mic-swallowing KILLJOY style of vein-bursting croaking. The lyrics and obligatory movie samples are as offensive as you'd expect, the whole thing leaving even the most jaded listener with a vaguely unclean and noxious feeling. It doesn't rock so much as it heaves, listing back and forth like a ship taking on water in a black storm, detuned and unbalanced, thrashing and moaning to its foregone conclusion in an atmosphere of sticky, oppressive, and blasphemous sulfuric fog.

You get the idea — this one is not for anyone expecting technical wizardry, crystalline production, or a fair and balanced debate on whether or not Jesus kicks butt. It's a fetid swamp bubble of an anti-Christian manifesto, drunk on tainted holy water and out to offend and horrify. And for those looking for that kind of primal, sinister vibe, it's gonna resonate right down into your rotting guts. Vile, worrisome, clattering and sadistic noise, and well worth the wait.