16volt - Skin

Released in 1994 on Re-Constriction Records, Skin is the second studio album from 16Volt and one of the defining releases of Eric Powell's career. Emerging out of the early nineties American industrial scene, 16Volt quickly carved out space between the mechanical aggression of acts like Ministry and the more accessible, groove driven edge of Nine Inch Nails, and Skin is the record where that balancing act really clicked into place.

The album captures the band tightening its songwriting into something more structured and immediate without losing any of its intensity. Heavy guitar riffs sit alongside programmed rhythms and dark electronic textures on tracks like the title cut "Skin," "Perfectly Fake," and "Skin Graft," while cuts like "Stitched" and "Built to Last" show off the record's sharper pop instincts underneath the grit. Rather than leaning purely on sonic assault, Skin integrates real hooks and layered arrangements, letting songs land on an emotional level as much as a physical one. That combination of accessibility and grit is what let 16Volt cross over to alternative rock listeners without losing its footing in the industrial underground.

This reissue is limited to 500 copies worldwide on orange vinyl, a fitting collector's edition for an album that remains a cornerstone of the band's catalog and a key document of industrial rock's expansion beyond its original boundaries.