Metropolis Records reissues 16Volt’s ‘LetDownCrush’ on yellow vinyl for 30th anniversary
Metropolis Records reissues 16Volt’s “LetDownCrush” on limited yellow vinyl, 300 copies, out 9 October 2026 for the album’s 30th anniversary.
Metropolis Records presses 16Volt‘s “LetDownCrush” on yellow vinyl for the first time, marking 30 years since the industrial rock album’s original release with a limited edition of 300 copies out 9 October 2026.
“LetDownCrush” first appeared on 7 August 1996 through Cargo and Re-Constriction Records, the third 16Volt studio album after “Wisdom” (1993) and “Skin” (1994) and the last the band released on Re-Constriction before signing to Metropolis. The album stayed out of print for 15 years until Metropolis remastered and reissued it on CD in 2012, adding a cover of Cypress Hill’s “We Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That” as a bonus track. The new vinyl edition carries the original ten-track sequence plus that bonus cut.
16Volt is the project of Portland-formed vocalist, guitarist and producer Eric Powell, who wrote or co-wrote every song on “LetDownCrush” with guitarist Marc LaCorte, credited on four tracks. Guest vocalist Stella “Soleil” Katsoudas features on opener “Swarm,” Dan Pred plays live drums on “A Cloth Like Gauze,” and the late guitarist William Tucker contributes additional and lead guitar. Jeff “Critter” Newell produced and engineered alongside Powell. Tracks “The Dreams That Rot in Your Heart” and “The Cut Collector” have remained fixtures of the band’s live sets since the album’s release.
16Volt’s release history since ‘LetDownCrush’
16Volt followed “LetDownCrush” with “SuperCoolNothing” (1998, Re-Constriction) before moving to Metropolis Records for “FullBlackHabit” (2007), “American Porn Songs” (2009) and “Beating Dead Horses” (2011). Side-Line previously covered the band’s remastered reissue of its debut album “Wisdom” and its 2024 return with “NegativeOnArrivals,” a compilation drawing on the self-released “The Negative Space” (2016) and “Dead on Arrivals” (2017), which Metropolis also reissued that same year. 16Volt’s most recent studio album, “More of Less,” arrived on Metropolis on 25 July 2025.
About 16Volt
16Volt was formed in Portland, Oregon, by vocalist, guitarist and producer Eric Powell in 1988. Powell recruited drummer Joel Bornzin, guitarist Jon Fell and Jeff Taylor to record “Motorskill,” which appeared on the “Cyberflesh Conspiracy” various-artists compilation on If It Moves. The band signed to Re-Constriction Records and released its debut album, “Wisdom,” on 25 May 1993, followed by “Skin” in 1994 and “LetDownCrush” in 1996. 16Volt closed out its run on Re-Constriction with “SuperCoolNothing” in 1998. The band later contributed nine tracks, three written specifically for the game, to the soundtrack of the video game “Primal.”
16Volt signed to Metropolis Records for “FullBlackHabit” (2007), “American Porn Songs” (2009) and “Beating Dead Horses” (2011). Powell self-released “The Negative Space” (2016) and “Dead on Arrivals” (2017) on his own Murder Creek label before the band went on hiatus. Powell reactivated 16Volt in 2024 with “NegativeOnArrivals,” combining material from those two self-released records for wider distribution, and followed it with the new studio album “More of Less” on Metropolis in July 2025. The current lineup is Powell on vocals, John “Servo” DeSalvo on drums, “Mindcage” Rick Furr on guitars and Jim Semonik on keyboards. The 30th-anniversary yellow vinyl pressing of “LetDownCrush” places the band’s first Metropolis-era physical reissue of the album alongside its recent run of new and archival releases on the label.
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!
