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What a surprisingly long, strange trip in the decade it's been since 1999 saw the L.A.-by-way-of-Chicago band debut an album that had a great mix of primal White Zombie, seminal Ministry, "evil disco" (?!), and plain' ol' crunch. Never mind that Smashing Pumpkins main man Billy Corgan was to blame/thank for their appearance on the larger stage and forget about the hair that had The Cure's Robert Smith in stitches. Static-X are a band that can be lumped into the "fun listening" category, like Chrome Division or 3 Inches of Blood. Upon careful examination it is true that these three bands have essentially nothing in common. ...Except for that fun factor.
Sonically and visually the band goes back to the front - check out the first reappearance of their original logo for a solitary piece of evidence. The staples of the band's sound are necessarily present on Cult of Static, only the band's 6th studio release (along with a rarities collection, aborted live video, and official live video), and for the sake of comparison it fits neatly in line with the debut and follow-up records, Wisconsin Death Trip and Machine, respectively. The synthesizers, partial drum programming, sampling, main riffs, bass, and vocals - both primary and backing - are nothing new. What is new is an apparent fascination with old school lead guitars and perhaps a strange fixation on Norwegian Black Metal.
What's that? Read it again, friend. Black Metal. That's right. One listen to the opening licks of "Z28" or "Stingwray" and comparisons to the last couple of Satyricon records cannot be helped. Perhaps these songs could be from a strange hybrid band called "Satyricon-X." But it works. The mechanical coldness found on much of Cult of Static matches the clinical nature of Satyr's and Frost's latest efforts, and that's not a bad thing. Well, unless one is a "tr00, kvlt, and n3cr0" Black Metal elitist, that is. Taking a step back it must be noted that Dave Mustaine (Megadeth, duh) provides a guest solo on the opening track, "Lunatic." What's strange is that Koichi's solos on the rest of the album sound very similar. Guess that GIGANTOUR appearance helped out, huh?
Other newness includes two dedications to the newly married Wayne's wife, former adult film star Tera Wray - check out the back to back "Tera-Fied" and "Stingwray." There's also a pair of odes to cars - the both already mentioned "Z28" and "Stingwray." The band's trance fixation can be heard on several tracks, most notably "Terminal," "Tera-Fied," "Nocturnally," and album closer "Grind 2 Halt." Mainman Wayne Static sums it up best: "We're one of the bands that you either love or hate. There's really no in-between." Sounds about right, but it still sounds like a lot of fun.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Lunatic |
| 2. Z28 |
| 3. Terminal |
| 4. Hypure |
| 5. Tera-Fied |
| 6. Stingwray |
| 7. You Am I |
| 8. Isolaytore |
| 9. Nocturnally |
| 10. Skinned |
| 11. Grind 2 Halt |
: 42:11
| Buy other Static-X albums |
