LEFT SPINE DOWN FIGHTING FOR VOLTAGE ALBUM SYNTHETIC SOUNDS RELEASE: APRIL 22, 2008 REVIEW: JUNE 30, 2008

First, let's talk about the connections between this band and Front Line Assembly. Main programmer Jeremy Inkel is a member of FLA and nowadays also Delerium. Guitarist Jared Slingerland also played guitar on FLA's latest album "Artificial Soldier" and joined the following world tour. As if that's not enough, this album is produced, mixed and engineered by the FLA Corndog himself, Chris Peterson. This is more or less where the similarities ends though, as Left Spine Down play what they wittingly call iPunk, a sort of mix between punk, breakbeat and industrial. They're young and they're angry. This style does not lend itself to nuances very well, meaning that all the songs basically sound the same, and singer Kaine Delay's shouty and whiny vocals get a bit tiring after a while.

There are some highlights though, like the furious "Ignorance is Piss", the bouncy "Last Daze" and the actually quite catchy "Prozac Nation", where the fury melds together with the melodic and electronic elements a little bit better. Peterson's production suits the style well, making it gritty and dirty. It's not too shabby for a first effort, but I want more variation in their future material.

JOHAN CARLSSON