Artist - Static X
Album - Start A War/X-Rated DVD
Label - Warner Brothers
Reviewer - Robin Steeley
Over 100 CD’s have crossed my desk in the past month, and there are few I anticipated as much as the new Static X. Their fourth album, recorded at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, and produced by Ulrich Wild, the CD is full of that dark X ambience that we have become familiar with and addicted too, but it also shows some real growth and progression over the course of their albums. This is more dynamic, and overall just…heavier.
It opens with “The Enemy” a chaotic brutality littered with guttural screams; it rips from the very first second of the very first song. Verse and chorus at a frenzied pace it eventually slips suddenly into the catchier single “I’m The One”. Title track “Start a War” has this weird underlying sample buzz that just sticks in your head, and the whispered lyrics followed by that trademark scream make it a perfect example of their trademark sound. I couldn’t leave out tracks like “Skinnyman” with its incredible percussion and the strange creepy track "I Want to Fucking Break It" which starts with like carnival, polka music that actually stays behind the entire song and is especially prominent in the chorus as Wayne screams the songs title.
There are definite differences when compared to ‘Wisconsin Death Trip” and last release “Shadow Zone”. The vocals are more diverse and have a wider range, the drums carry much more of the music then in previous releases, and there is a general solidity, a tightness to the overall production and sound. It’s the Static X we all know and love, but with more layers and shades to the music. It almost takes your breathe away. This is industrial metal at its best.
As if the CD wasn’t good enough, it comes along with a DVD simple titled “X Rated DVD” that covers a plethora of material including rehearsal, and actual studio time in the making of ‘Start A War’, tracking vocals and drums for the song “Otsego Amigo” the fourth nod in song title to Wayne Static’s hometown. It shows the promotional photo shoot and making of the artwork for the album as well as a live performance and some behind the scenes footage of the band four wheeling in the desert.
This is the total X package. I bet its going to be the soundtrack of our summer.
Tracklisting
1. The Enemy
2. I'm the One
3. Start a War
4. Pieces
5. Dirthouse
6. Skinnyman
7. Just in Case
8. Set it Off
9. I Want to Fucking Break It
10. Night Terrors
11. Ostego Amigo
12. My Damnation
13. Brainfog
Static-X is:
Wayne Static (vocals, guitar, programming)
Tony Campos (vocals, bass guitar)
Koichi Fukuda (guitar, programming)
Nick Oshiro (drums)
