Bowie’s Machine: The Return of the Chameleon : TIN MACHINE “Tin Machine.” EMI ****: <i> Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five stars (a classic).</i>

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. This is not the latest David Bowie album, but rather the first LP from a new quartet of which rock’s eternal chameleon is merely the most famous member. Right.

Either way, this is one crushing record, recorded mostly live in the studio with a minimum of overdubs and bristling with a cold fury. If it were a movie it’d be titled something like “The Attack of the Giant Ice Crusher.”

Anchored by Bowie’s impassioned singing and minimal rhythm guitar work, lead guitarist Reeves Gabriels stomps out a wailing maelstrom of white noise that’s matched by the hard-charging rhythm section of drummer Hunt Sales and his brother bassist Tony.

While all 12 songs are solid (the CD and cassette contain two extra tracks), the best moments come on a rolling, bluesy paean to the pleasures of the flesh called “Heaven’s in Here,” the anti-drug “Wild Thing” knock-off “Crack City,” and the R&B; rave-up “Pretty Thing,” which is ostensibly about a girl but winds up sounding like a tribute to the legendary ‘60s punk-blues group of that name.

Then there’s the anti-fascist riffslinging of “Under the God,” the brutal rearrangement of John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero,” the biting, “chop-it-up” chorus of “Video Crime,” and the unnerving tale-told-by-an-idiot titled “I Can’t Read.” Think Kinks, think Who, Yardbirds ‘n’ Hendrix too. Think great stuff.

A little shy on melody to go POP! perhaps, but a couple of these tunes are destined to be classic additions to Bowie’s already formidable catalogue.