By Adam Bowman

It's always nice when the south breeds a hard rock band. It's even better when the band kicks ass and they're discovered by Talena Atfield (btw, Talena, my band could use another bassist...I'll be your best friend). With all of this in mind, Crossbreed. Featuring dueling keyboardists and a tendency to enjoy the screams, this Florida band pretty much takes anything Orgy has done and cranks it up a notch.

Everyone that listens to industrial music knows that eventually, every band gets compared to Trent Reznor at some point. Despite James Rietz's best efforts throughout "Synthetic Division", there are moments, especially in "Seasons", where he matches both the aforementioned Reznor and Static-X's Wayne Static (something that he gets major props from me for). Fortunately for Rietz and Crossbreed, he's more his own vocalist than a rip-off of anyone else. Musically, all props go to drummer Travis Simpkins, as he almost seamlessly blends in with all the drum samples and compliments Chris Nemzek and Charlie Parker's guitar work extremely well. The various keyboard samples the go on underneath James' vocals and mesh excellently, a perfect example of which being during the verses of "Severed".

The only downside to "Synthetic Division" is that it's not going to win the hardcore metal purist over, then again, the hardcore metal purist is generally very headstrong in what they like, with few exceptions. If you like metal, and don't mind hearing quirky noises with the crunch, then I highly advise you to grab this album. Besides, if Talena digs it, I'm not going to argue.