Static-X – Cannibal / Reprise Records Audio CD 2007 / 9362-49992-4

UPC 09362-49992-49

Static-X's blunt-force-trauma melding of industrial rock, thrash metal and futuristic disco is back on the band's fifth studio album, Cannibal. From the carnivorous title track to the throat-punching grooves of "Destroyer," "Goat" and "Electric Pulse," Cannibal boasts the harshest, most stripped-down music Static-X has ever recorded.

On its fifth album, Static X mines its familiar Prong-meets-Ministry sound to convincing effect over the course of twelve tracks of industrial metal darkness. Because the band's name alone makes comparisons to the likes of White Zombie, Korn, and Slipknot redundant, it's instead worth noting that Cannibal is arguably the group's leanest, most direct-sounding, and most metal album to date. And, if this album is a harbinger of the outfit's future ventures, then listeners are in for a eye-popping ride. Wayne Static and his cohorts are perhaps most effective on the stomping "Cuts You Up," the dark and discoesque "Behemoth," and the grand executioner of them all, "Destroyer." Still, the record suffers a bit for its intentions of brutality. The hit-and-run approach of Static's songwriting means that none of the tracks reach the four-minute mark and thus come off as vignettes rather than fully realized narratives. All in all, Cannibal may be the album that detractors and fans alike have been waiting for, the one that proves that Static means to take us on a longer and more interesting journey than we could have ever imagined.