We got to work right away on the video for the song “Burn” from the album. We chose to work with Paul Peterson for his cinematic stylings and spent a few months making the video. We are very proud of the video, it was a big undertaking both artistically and emotionally and thank everyone involved.

A few months later found us joining up with longtime friends KMFDM for the western US portion of the tour. Being the only band in KMFDM’s history to tour with them twice was not lost on us. It was an honor and again one of the best tours we have ever been able to do. Thanks to everyone with the crew, again all the fans and supporters.

It doesn’t sound like a lot when I write it but it was a ton of work in 2011, especiually coming off the previous few years — we have been pounding it out! We go into 2012 with the exciting news that begining in April, Metropolis will be re-releasing out first four albums, complete with remixes, cover songs, unreleased material and all new artwork from our friend Michael Bodine at Animated Noise. We will release one album a month starting in April, we are working on some sort of tour for Fall to celebrate. We hope to see you again soon. Have a great 2012!

16VOLT ANNOUNCES AUGUST TOUR DATES WITH KMFDM
Machine rock veterans 16volt are pleased to announce they will be joining industrial legends KMFDM for the western leg of their North American tour in August.

16volt are touring in support of their new album, Beating Dead Horses, and KMFDM are touring behind their latest release, WTF?! Both albums were released this spring on industrial powerhouse label Metropolis Records.

Also on the tour are label mates Army of the Universe and Florida’s Human Factors Lab.

For up to the minute information visit http://16volt.com/tour
On Facebook at http://facebook.com/16volt and on twitter: @16volt

Tour Dates:
Wednesday, August 3 – Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
Thursday, August 4 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
Friday, August 5 – San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
Saturday, August 6 – Anaheim, CA @ Grove of Anaheim
Sunday, August 7 – San Diego, CA @ Belly Up Tavern
Monday, August 8 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Mayan
Wednesday, August 10 – Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
Friday, August 12 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Saturday, August 13 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Eagles Club
Sunday, August 14 – Chicago, IL @ The Bottom Lounge

Beating Dead Horses is now available from the following outlets:

Beating Dead Horses is 16volt’s seventh full-length album and their third album on Metropolis. It was produced by 16volt frontman Eric Powell and co-mixed by Powell and Shaun Thingvold (Strapping Young Lad, Front Line Assembly, Lamb of God). The album finds 16volt refining its sound with the heavy rock guitars, intricate beats and layers of synths and samplers that the band is known for.

The release features thirteen new songs, including the aggressive tracks “Sick Sick Sick”, “Fight Or Flight” and “Beating Dead Horses” and the lead-off single “Burn” as well as guest appearances from Clint Carney (System Syn, God Module) and Bill Sarver (Lance Herbstrong, Ohn).

TRACK LISTING:

1. Beating Dead Horses
2. The Wasteland That Is Me
3. Fight or Flight
4. Burn
5. You Will All Go Down
6. Breathing Water
7. Ghost
8. We Disintegrate
9. Dissembler
10. Sick Sick Sick
11. The Carrion
12. Veins
13. Somewhere New

Eric Powell founded 16Volt in 1991 and has slowly but relentlessly built a name as one of the top industrial rock bands in the scene. With six original, two compilations and appearances in video games and films, 16Volt is releasing their latest effort, Beating Dead Horses, on Metropolis Records. And while the term “beating a dead horses” generally means is an idiom that means to continue in any endeavor is a waste of time as the outcome is already decided, this album is most certainly not a waste of time and perhaps 16Volt’s best effort to date.

Starting with the title track, the album begins with a religious laced sampled diatribe condemning those who do not believe and follow the same god as the speaker. The song then kicks off with the grinding guitar line that 16Volt is known for. Heavy drums and well-mixed aggressive vocals move the song along, carrying you with it. “The Wasteland That is Me”, begins with some very interesting percussion sounds backing up a heavy guitar line. The vocals are captivating, understated to a point of almost being down-tuned and backed by so many different layers of sound it is quite easy to get lost within the tones.

The track “Fight or Flight” comes next and simply challenges you to make that choice. Aggressive to the point of almost being an actual physical attack, it is relentless and eerily reminiscent of some 80s hardcore in its tempo and pace. The song “Burn” slows things down to an almost sedate pace in comparison to the previous track. Plenty of sounds layer and move giving this song a very expansive feel.

“You Will All Go Down” comes next and for some strange reason sounds to me like an aggro version of a Pink Floyd. Starting with a long, atmospheric intro it is easily one of the more dynamic songs on the album. Moving with a deliberate pace, the track projects depression and sadness. The next track, “Breathing Water”, starts with a short stringy synch sound before a much more upbeat guitar line comes in wiping away the melancholy feelings left by the previous song. While the music is much more positive laced, the lyrics are sometimes downright dismal, so listening closely to the lyrics can result in a refill of your Prozac prescription.

“Ghost” starts with a steady drumbeat and synth pulse before a guitar joins in holding the main melody in its gritty paws. The vocals begin unstated, almost relegated to the background, before coming on strong during the chorus with some rather interesting harmonization effects. The track drifts past, slightly below your consciousness, and before you know it, it ends leaving you almost empty.

Follows is “We Disintegrate”, a much harder and more aggressive track. With some very interesting panning synths and a nice vocal doubling effect it is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Next is “Dissembler” bringing back the aggro Pink Floyd feeling. With vocals almost atmospheric in nature, the song is an excellent example of Powell’s vocal ability.

Starting with a heavy guitar line, ” Sick Sick Sick” comes in and shatters the somberness “Dissembler” had created. Again, some very nice synth samples accent the main melody and the interplay between the sung and shouted lyrics is well mixed so that while they both have distinct sounds, neither overwhelms the other. The drums are heavy and fast, again reminiscent of 80s hardcore and driving the song onward.

With the track “The Carrion” the heavy hitting as well as the more ethereal 16Volt collide. While the synths and some of the vocals hint at the atmospheric tones from “Ghost” and “Dissembler” the guitar and drums keep the song from descending to far into the melancholic. “Veins” begins with probably the most atmospheric sample and percussion ever to be devised for an industrial track. When the guitar comes in during the first verse, it hints at the heaviness that explodes with the chorus. Some of the vocals toy with the death metal growl, as I like to call it, while remaining melodic. Thankfully, they only tease and stay much more lively.

The final track on the album, “Somewhere New”, starts with a steady beat held together by a drum machine and ride cymbol before being joined by a bass line. The vocals had me wondering if Edward Ka-Spel had decided to go industrial for a moment as Powell uses the same cadence Ka-Spel uses so often on his LPD releases. Probably the most sadate track on the album, it is an excellent denouement to the track as it dissolves into almost nothing at the end.

This is not the 16Volt that appeared on the Primal video game soundtrack, but rather a higher, more musically evolved, 16Volt. Eric Powell and Mike Peoples have taken their act to a new level and produced what I can easily say is their best album to date. Fans are sure to find Beating Dead Horses to be very enjoyable while new listeners should appreciate the dynamic soundscapes offered by 16Volt. I thoroughly enjoyed this album and hope the creativity and growth shown continues with their next release.

Metropolis Records
05/05/2011, Didier BECU

It seems like the American metal-indusband 16 Volt has a predilection for provoking album titles. Two years ago they released a cd called “American porn songs”, and now they are coming up with a title that goes like “Beating Dead Horses”.

So far, 16 Volt are unknown in Europe but in America they can count on a supporting following and soon this band around Eric Powell and Mike Peoples will be touring in the land of Stars and Stripes with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult.

The new cd from this band that got founded in 1998 contains 13 songs and even if a song like “Veins” has its metal-influence, there’s no doubt that “Beating dead horses” is in the first place a melodic metalindus-record that has almost the same impact as Combichrist had with the excellent “Making Monsters” -album.

You got it right, 16 Volt are the type of band that are influenced by the likes of Front Line Assembly, the later Skinny Puppy or Killing Joke, even if tracks like “The wasteland that is me” and “Sick sick sick” have a typical 16 Volt-sound.

Buy it and let’s thumb these lads are playing somewhere in your area quite soon!

In support of the new album, 16volt will be hitting the road in late spring for an eight-week two-leg tour of the United States with industrial legends My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, who will be touring in support of the new album Sinister Whisperz. More details on the tour will be announced soon and dates will be posted on16volt.com as they are confirmed.

For more information, visit http://16volt.com and to get the latest news as it is announced, follow @16volt on Twitter.

For booking information please contact info@bpmtalent.com ]]> http://16volt.com/news/new-album-tkk-tour/feed/ 0 http://16volt.com/news/2010-year-in-review/ http://16volt.com/news/2010-year-in-review/#comments Fri, 31 Dec 2010 20:22:19 +0000 admin http://16volt.com/?p=2757 It’s been an amazing, crazy year and we’ve been riding a pretty fun wave since our “return” in 2007 with “FullBlackHabit”. I’ll keep this short and sweet but I want to first thank all of our fans, friends, families, and business partners for giving us the gift of being able to do what we love to do. We have loads in store for 2011 but you’ll be hearing all about that soon. For now I want to reflect for a short moment on 2010.

We kicked off 2010 with the release of “American Porn Songs // Remixed”. A collection of remixes from our friends, fans and friends. It was our first remix album release and we are very happy with the results. Some great, killer work on there. We are humbled and honored to hear what people did with our tunes. If for some reason you haven’t picked it up you can get it from iTunes or from Metropolis. We also have a free download of 100+ (yes, that’s correct!) remixes from fans, again, some amazing stuff in there. Grab that here!

After the success of our Denial Highway Tour, we were itching to get back out on the road. We started putting together an amazing tour with our longtime cohorts Chemlab. We also wanted to bring out our friends from the north, Left Spine Down. After a long time planning we hit the road again in Spring with the “2010 MIDI GHETTO TOUR” and played a great batch of shows throughout the US and Canada (some people call it the best tour of 2010!). We were excited to get to play Festival Kinetik in Montreal to a mixed crowd of people who were either amazed to see us, confused by our real instruments , or those who were just there to show off their home-made welding goggle yarn hair and could care less about the soundtrack. Nonetheless it was a great experience.

I had some time this year to do some remix work for Caustic, System Syn, Angelspit and Skold to name a few, look for more news on that soon also.

Also since returning from tour we have been hard at work on our new album, “Beating Dead Horses” Slated for May 2011 release. We are still working on the finishing touches and more news will follow on that front. We are planning some tours for 2011 as well. A big question we always get is, when are you coming to the UK? We have that on our radar, we are planning for the first time a more focused promotional campaign in Europe which will hopefully mean that we will finally have some solid things in place to get over there. If you haven’t done it yet, please sign up for our mailing list, like us on facebook, follow me on twitter and just keep being rad. Thank you from the inner parts of our persons for making 2010 a great year, we hope it’s just part of the new begining for us, we can feel our assault pick up steam and that’s an awesome feeling. See you in 2011!

December 31, 2010 -Eric Powell – 16volt

KUFO – The Bud Light Viva La Luna Showcase featuring:
16VOLT (with members of KMFDM, Frontline Assembly, Revolting Cocks, Chemlab, Skrew, Stayte, The Daniel Ash Band) – their last performance of 2010!

with:
Black Haze
Amerakin Overdose
and Special Guest DJ and MC: Jeremy Inkel (Frontline Assembly, Left Spine Down)

KUFO will be giving out lots of prizes, Bud Light will have mad beer specials, there will be loads of amazing industrial rock featuring some of the most legendary performers in the genre.

Join us Thursday, September 16th at SHADOWPLAY (The Fez Ballroom) where Jeremy Inkel will be guest DJ. We’ll be there after 11pm for some good times! We are Looking forward to celebrating an amazing year with our local fans and friends!