Evol Intent

Atlanta-based electronic trio Evol Intent traverses jagged, stuttering IDM (think Aphex Twin), trancey ambient pulses that waver between pretty and dark, and dance-floor breakbeats that race across an array of vocal samples and raps. It's a surprisingly vital blend that fuels Intent's full-length debut, Era of Diversion. It's all represented here: repetitive, rave-inspired mixes, such as the nearly six-minute "Odd Number" (built around a line from Nas' "Hate Me Now"); atmospheric sound collages spiked with clattering blasts of drum-and-bass; and grimy, low-riding beats with heated rhetoric suggesting Ministry resurrected as a backpacker-rap group (the media-bashing "Death, Lies & Videotape"). The album starts hot with "The Forword," which cops Howard Beale's "mad as hell" speech from Network and continues with anti-government, gangsta-style braggadocio over a haunting organ that sounds stolen from The Omen. Ultimately, it's Evol Intent's skillful mixing of emotional tones that sustains the momentum.