16 Volt - The Negative Space

I have never been a 16 Volt fan but that's not because I thought their music was God awful and the worst thing on the planet that should be shot out of a cannon and launched out of this galaxy. No, it's just because I never really got around to listening to much of their music despite the heaps of praise bestowed upon them. But I suppose it was high time I listened to the industrial rock/metal band since they've been around for quite a bit now and inspired numerous other industrial bands out there. I mean, there has to be a reason for that. 

The first taste I got of their new, independently released album The Negative Space was full of tragedy and absolute dread. I watched the music video for the first track on the album 'The Electric Pope' considering it teased a post-apocalyptic playing field in the name of Mad Max, but what I got was a horrible song that's keen to rap-metal of the old era. The vocals were awful and didn't sound native, the music was bland and boring and sounded like a rip off of Rage Against the Machine. The video itself wasn't too bad as it showed off what looked like a pretty fun party with booze, entertainment, and some neat props, but that doesn't help considering the music was terrible. 

But I am not one to let a single song judge an entire album. Plus, some of the comments on YouTube stating that 16 Volt moved in a new direction and they understood their evolution gave me hope. So, I went and played the rest of the album. I soon found myself entirely in shock and awe at the direction the band moved in. That's not because it's good, but because of the generic metal/rock sound they adopted.

I love it when bands move and evolve; it shows creativity and an emphasis on learning and practicing more. But with 16 Volt's latest effort, it honestly sounds like they went from being a dominant force on the industrial scene to a backwater version of soft-rock/metal bands who sometimes burst out with harder rage. 

What we're hearing from 16 Volt right now is new for them, but put them in a pool of other rock/metal bands and they sound like a clone of everything else. I don't know what urged them to go in this direction or why they even bothered, but this is trash and I cannot stand it. I don't think I've been this negative in a review in a while but I suppose this is a public service announcement to older fans of 16 Volt to watch out. They've gone into a new era, but not one many are going to be willing to follow.
Sep 23 2016