Static-X - Machine

A wall of death, surrounded in electronic circuitry as various fragmented visions of dance halls and killer machines with razor blades dancing around you head while you get to enjoy the show.

That is, essentially, why "Machine" by Static-X is a great album.

Released in 2001 in the height of the both the nu-metal movements as well as the industrial metal movements of the late-90's that demanded that the genre change, Static-X was lumped in with the former rather than the later because, in the end, they were just too metal for the industrial crowd at the time. Still riding high off the success of their last album, "Wisconsin Death Trip", Wayne Static continued on his journey of creating the ultimate "dance-metal" album, and on here we see him come close to that dream.

More like thrash anthems in a time where there seemed to be none and, to some, "not cool", songs like "Get to the Gone" and "Permanence" bring out the anger and range amidst a wall of sound similar at times to that used by Devin Townsend. Coming from me, that is the ultimate compliment, and these songs easily warrant it.

"This Is Not" is the biggest highlight on the album, and, yes, you can dance with to it easily in either a mosh pit or in a night club... although, to quote Motorhead, if you did "you might just break your neck to it!" The overall dance beat is adamant throughout the entire song, and the guitar riffs are just incredible! The amount of anger and aggression in it, mixed with some pop sensibility... its just amazing! Imagine Atari Teenage Riot... if they did more metal.

Even when the album tries to be a bit more commercial with tracks like "Black and White" and "Cold", the album works incredibly strong, although if you're like me, you can only chuckle as Wayne Static tries to "sing" on the later of the two songs.

"A Dios Alma Perdida" closes the album on a very smart note; a sort of cool-down song after kicking your ass for the rest of it, giving you a chance to soak everything in with the harsh industrial aspects mixed with a very light and airy keyboard at times, and the use once more of the "wall of sound" is very smart and well done.

Clocking in at a little more than 40 minutes, you are getting more than your money's worth on this album. This is Static-X at their peak, the single BEST Static-X album ever and the one most worthy of your time and effort.

This get's a stunning 9.2 out of 10!

Static-X - The Cult of Static

Never, in all my years of listening to music, has an album EVER made me hate a band that I love.

I've seen bands evolve and grow, and I've heard albums and songs that made me recoil in horror. Sometimes the proper warning can make even a bad album sound good. Case in point? Megadeth "Risk" is, in and of itself, not a bad album, just not a good album for Megadeth but for a pop-rock band. But sometimes an album will make you annoyed at a band, and the best example is In Flames "Soundtrack to Your Escape".

This time... this time I can honestly say I hate what Static-X has become, and Wayne Static is largely to blame.

While many panned 2003's "Shadow Zone", I wound up falling in love with the album. It was different than anything they had done up to that point, and in the end, it was a very interesting and eclectic mix of metal and dance, and to me was the ultimate "dance-metal" album that Wayne and company wanted to make. 2007's "Cannibal" was promising to me, mixing elements of the dance with a much heavier sound.

This album... Cult of Static is the result of a band that's been around in the mainstream for 12 years and has simply given up. This band has stopped caring. They released one of the best and most promising albums of their careers and instead of rising to the challenge and writing an album that meets the demands that were given, we instead get a shitty collection of half-assed metal songs that, LITERALLY, FOLLOW THE SAME SHITTY BEAT?!

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!

Instead of creating 12 songs of varying speeds and tempos, mixing their style of industrial metal with everything, they instead got for a 45+ minute long drive of repetitive beats (was this a fucking drum machine?!) that NEVER CHANGES! IT! NEVER! FUCKING! CHANGES! That! More than anything, THAT kills this album!

On top of that, you happy sloppy songwriting, sloppy lyrics (even, or especially, for Static-X, depending on your viewpoint!), and most annoying of all, random guitar solos! Not ONE guitar solo seems to fit anywhere in any of the songs,!

And insult to injury? This has nothing to do with the album in and of itself. NOTHING.

Wayne Static has done every interview since the album with his porn star wife Tera Wray. Look, awesome, you married a porn star, and awesome, you can get in a threesome with another woman with her. That's great. So, in return, you write a shitty album, release it, and claim time-and-time again that its the best thing in the world?! I haven't seen Wayne Static do this many interviews for ANYTHING in my life! And it's ALWAYS with his fucking wife!

Wayne, man, I love ya! You are a hero of mine, and even though I've gotten hell for it, I've been a fan for years. This?! Taking a musical shit, selling it to me on a CD for $15, and then parading around with your pornstar wife and telling me its gold?! THIS?! THIS IS WHAT YOU GIVE THE FANS?!

No. This album is an abomination to all things Static-X. Most reviews I've seen have been FAR too kind. "This is just standard-issue Static-X to please the 'Cult of Static'". Well, I'm a Static-X fan, and I still am. This does not please me. It is shit. It is crap. Its one of the worst CD's I've ever heard in my life.

Wayne, stop with the wife for a while and decide if you want to keep the porn star wife or be a rockstar. After that album, I think you need to make a choice.

My rating? Dave Mustaine's solo is lost in "Lunatic" and save one song, this album is just hell. Fuck it. I'd rather listen to mentally retarded dogs fuck. I'd rather hear Stephen Hawking try to explain Quantum Physics using his own voice word-for-word in pain. Hell, I'd even rather listen to Kobra Starship, and they... no, I won't go there.

Fuck this album, and for the time being, fuck you, Wayne Static!

0! 0 out of 10 stars!

If you find this album, burn it with a lighter or toss it into a fireplace! Hell, if you get the chance, try skeet shooting one of them!

Static-X - Wisconsin Death Trip

Static-X - Wisconsin Death Trip

Back in 2000, I was in Wal-Mart for the first time in my life. I was standing around while my parents were checking out and saw two CD's by a band called Static-X, Machine and Wisconsin Death Trip. The albums covers looked cool, the CD's were on sale, and I considered buying them but held out. Last year I decided to finally check them out, and god-damn it, I'm glad I did!

The band has often been declared "nu-metal", and thus the label, "lame", has been synonymous with it. That's only due to the fact they came out in 1998 during the time when it was the only label new metal bands could get, and it doesn't do them justice. The sound is more akin to what Ministry was being declared to be and only achieved on the last two albums; Industrial Metal with some insanely heavy and catchy riffs.

The album kicks-off with, hands down, the single smartest metal lyric of the late-90's; "I See It/ I NEED IT". The lyric, in those 6 words, are the sheer embodiment of the current generation; The see it, want it mentality that we have, the same idea of rampant, almost mindless consumerism that embody most of us. We live in an age instant gratification, and as soon as we see an item, it's no longer a want, it's a need. And we must fill that need. For that, "Push It" stands as one of the greatest metal songs ever.

The songs about love and relationships makeup some of the most dynamic tracks on the album, as well as some of the most unique songs that can actually are entertaining. Most notably, "I'm With Stupid" is among the single zaniest tracks I've ever heard, the sample of the news report of the woman saying "I grabbed my shovel, and I beat him in the skull and took him down. Then I grabbed a rope and I hogtied him." adds a dynamic that is simply amazing. "Love Dump" has a very high-pitched guitar riff going through it, and it's used to perfection.

The album closes "December", a track written by Wayne Static's and Ken Jay's former band Deep Blue Dream. It would, in a sense, almost seem out of place, but it actually sits perfectly with the rest of the disc, creating a nice melodic, relaxing end to an incredibly intense album.

If there was ever an album from the mainstream late-90's metal movement for me to recommend, this would be it. If you either never heard it, or haven't heard it in a long time, it's perfect to rediscover!

4.7 out of 5, this album is great!

BUY THIS ALBUM!