REVIEWS

Left Spine Down
Fighting for Voltage

Synthetic Entertainment

Posted: Friday, April 25, 2008
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Just when you thought that all industrial music had been reverted to some mangled form of club music, paying more attention to danceable beats and overproduction, Vancouver's Left Spine Down release their full-length album to prove that they have not given up on the raucous energies that inspired the genre in the first place, albeit with a more punk rock approach. Their sound is an amalgam of glitch-laden drum & bass and industrialized punk rock, fusing grinding guitars with furious beats and textures that will surely recall the spirit of '90s coldwave but with a modern edge. Dubbing their sound iPunk, the Canadian sextet stand poised to kick the scene in the proverbial ass, and Fighting for Voltage is but an early example of their power. The Smartbomb EP already displayed such anthems of discontent in the digital age such as "Last Daze," "Reset," and "Hang Up," assaulting the listener with a vicious array of heavy rock and pulse-pounding breakbeats. Those songs, as well as the pummeling thrash metal in the vein of Ministry of "Ready or Not" and "Policy of Hypocrisy," return from Smartbomb, rounded out by a few new numbers and a series of instrumental interludes. "Prozac Nation" begins with an ominous bass line that gives way to a venomous barrage of feedback and noise, all the while delivering a diatribe of the overly medicated state of a modern society pretending everything is okay. While this may not sound like an overly new concept, few bands have made the statement with such fervor as Left Spine Down. "Ignorance is Piss" brings us more industrial metal as squelching synths simmer beneath an onslaught of pounding drums and chugging guitars. And then there are the ferocious power chords and caustic glitches of "U Can't Stop the Bomb," presenting an anarchic worldview that puts them on par with the apocalyptic visions of Front Line Assembly. Indeed, band members Jeremy Inkel and Jared Slingerland are also members of FLA, and Chris Peterson produced Fighting for Voltage, his influence felt through the album amid the numerous layers of sound. This is particularly so on the album's outro track, 23 minutes of devastating synth manipulations and industrialized soundscapes that are sure to grate at the listener's sonic tolerance. From Inkel's frantic programming and synthesizers, to the thrashing guitars of Slingerland and Matt Girvan, to the aggressive rhythms of drummer Tim Hagberg and bassist Denyss McKnight, and topped off by the rancorous and anthemic vocals of kAINE D3L4Y, Left Spine Down are certainly a force to be reckoned with; products of the digital age, while simultaneously warning of its perils. If you love your industrial loud, heavy, edgy, and rocking, then you're sure to find Fighting for Voltage to be one of the hottest industrial rock albums of the year.