12v Negative Earth's debut full length effort finds them mixing raw new metal riffs with gruff yet harmonic vocal structures that draw similarities to acts like Disturbed, Sevendust and Tool, yet without the annoying/flamboyant chants or overblown epic song structures. Heavy and full of low end, they pile on the anger in this release, showing off an interesting battle between melody and abrasive modern metal that repeatedly sways in each opponents favor multiple times within each song.

Cleverly implemented, band front man Jason's medium range voice touches upon low grumbling rants that sound like a cross between rapping and the mumblings of an enraged psycho, not unlike Pantera's Phil Anselmo's earlier work and yet their generally soft spoken nature with heart felt croons and melodic wails create a slight mystique that is ultimately shattered by explosive bursts of aggressive throaty screams and straight from the gut growls. Satisfyingly heavy, they come backed with tastefully downtuned guitar that is distorted just enough to carefully tiptoe the line between heavy and natural tones. Strengthened with large open ended riffs that stem from an evolved version of the technique Korn pioneered on their first release, the band shoot for a more straight forward approach here as rather than litter the release with crafty squeals and effect coated noises they prefer to keep things closely knit with sharply pointed verses and abrasive yet tuneful choruses. Backed up by confident drum work and solid if not lightly downtuned bass playing, overall the groups music is almost militant at times and yet they still manage to play upon both sides of the human psyche, constantly layering soft and melodic verses over top of jagged thundering verse riffs.

Perhaps its the ability to successfully pull such a stark contrast off that makes this group so enjoyable. While this debut may find the band a bit rougher and less polished than their later efforts have, the energy they capture on this release is pure and unique and its unfiltered rage and remorseful emotion can easily strike a chord within the listener despite its at times ramshackle construction. This however is also one of its flaws, but when considering it is a self produced release, there is a lot of untapped talent and self restraint shown that indicates this band have a veritable gold mine of talent to plunder. But it is also up to them to shape the tunnels correctly to enable them to strike on a vein of aural intensity that will capture the listeners attention in a unique enough way to ensure longevity. A few extra touches in the form of what sounds to be female back up vocals along with piano and an acoustic interlude help add color, while the hidden cover of the Tears For Fears track "Shout" adds a touch of humor and shows the band are not afraid to tackle adversity. In the end it may remain a mystery where all the sunshine went, but its a question that won't be plaguing this Tennessee based 5-piece for long, because if they can carry on evolving as they have, their future will be very bright indeed.