Since the release of "The Dirty Sanchez" in 1999, SPiNE have made quite a name for themselves, appearing internationally on the TV program Farmclub.com and steadily playing live shows in and around their native scene. But it is with this, their national debut, that the group have definitely taken a step back and firmed up their sound while also in a sense, tearing it down. Where their last disc found them experimenting with various genre's and countless different ideas led by a rapcore styled vocal contribution, "Non-Violent Offender" shows them moving towards an atmospheric blend of metalcore and new metal that is balanced between gritty male barks and soulful, husky female croons, with the occasional rap thrown in for good measure, making SPiNE the almost perfect middle ground between groups like Fear Factory and Stuck Mojo.

Vocally band frontman Jonny 3 Legs belts out his hoarse and socially aware verses with a menacing demeanor that fits quite well as he switches back and forth between bluesy crooned verses and enraged full fledged growls that seamlessly fade into colorful, yet well regulated rap styled verses. Band bassist Lady J also adds her coarse, yet melodic vocals to the fray as well, occasionally taking the spotlight and always ensuring a thorough verbal contrast as both members aggressively trade their parts off in refreshingly loose structures. Guitar work is heavy on crunch and churns out a constant stream of modern metal riffs that occasionally dabble outside the lines with some blues styled slide harmonics, such as those demonstrated on the track "One Minute", to the straight on metalcore mastery that takes shape in the crushing "Why The Tree loves The Axe". Bass wise the disc is littered with downtuned, bottom heavy rumbles that are quite prevalent within the songs as they use poignant and catchy looping grooves to capture the attention and drive the songs onward. Meanwhile, percussion courtesy of drummer Mike is fairly crisp and heavy on cymbal usage as he beats out a constant array of resilient snare underneath waves of crashing cymbals, both of which are applied over top of the booming kick drum work that at times pummels out some monstrous dual kick. Electronics and samples are also a part of the groups assault and they show up in a fairly traditional form here, with swirling sonic ambiance and striking blasts of traditional keyboard notes that can slightly bring to mind Faith No More at times.

It's interesting to see the band continually progress with their sound, moving on from the rap heavy facets of their past works into new and at times challenging territory. But though they seem to have mustered up a bit of a more raw and edgy sound these days, they still manage to bring a few of the experimental old favorites along and although the new versions don't sound as brightly eclectic as they used to in their latest incarnations, their inclusion does help to increase the depth and allure of the music contained here. Perhaps the one thing the group have definitely firmly cemented in place on this release though, is a lingering dark cloud of heaviness that permeates each song, whether it be through the punishing drum work, charring, unforgiving guitar riffs or the venomously bitter vocals. But still, even though this is undoubtedly a solid effort, a good portion of the tracks included here have already been available in previous forms for quite sometime and as such fans who have been following the group for awhile, may find themselves enjoying the all new material the most, more than say, the disc as a whole package. Overall though, despite its few shortcomings, with this release SPiNE have successfully established something which the constant stream of faceless modern metal bands so desperately try to grasp... Identity; and though they may be the new bitch in the contemporary new metal prison at the moment, it's not hard to fathom that with a few more releases under their belts, these non-violent offenders will have everyone from the warden to the hard knock lifers nervously looking back over their shoulders in fear of what's coming next.