Static-X - 'Project Regeneration Vol. 1' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. Regeneration

2. Hollow (Project Regeneration)

3. Worth Dyin For

4. Terminator Oscillator

5. All These Years

6.Accelerate

7. Bring You Down (Project Regeneration)

8. My Destruction

9. Something of My Own (Project Regeneration)

10. Otsego Placebo

11. Follow

12. Dead Souls

Posthumously released albums are often a mixed bag as band members are left behind try to find a way to honour/release their fallen band members last work. In 2014 Wayne Static died from an accidental drug overdose and at the time of his death he was estranged from his former band members. After a successful tour for the 20th anniversary of 'Wisconsin Death Trip' the original line up of Static-X along with vocalist Xer0 got to work on making a new Static-X album from left over demos and half-finished tracks. The opening track on 'Project Regeneration Vol. 1' is 'Regeneration' and its opening lines are pretty poignant “The unexpected thing tragedy gives us, is the opportunity to rebuild”. 'Regeneration' is pretty much an intro track built around keyboards and samples evoking Static-X’s past before blasting into the full album. 'Hollow (Project Regeneration)' the 1st proper song on the album and hits the mark pretty well, it’s clear from the get-go, this album is not going to be a half assed bunch of un-finished songs.

'Hollow (Project Regeneration)' kicks along at a frantic pace bringing evoking memories of early Static-X.

'Worth Dying For' is old school Static-X at its best with its evil disco beat and Wayne Static’s vocal delivery (it had me smiling upon first hearing this). There is an interesting blend of vocals here with live vocalist Xer0 sounding like Jonathan Davies of Korn. It seems that the surviving members of the 'Wisconsin Death Trip' line really have tapped into the past whilst updating the sound of Static-X. The riffs are crushing and the programming/keyboards add so much depth to the album.

'Terminator Oscillator' is just relentless as it pounds along beating you into submission. 'All These Years' steps back a bit from the pounding in your face drive of the previous songs but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s a weak track, it’s far from it. 'All The Years' is just as heavy as anything that’s come before and again features a great vocal playoff between Wayne & Xer0, as does 'Accelerate' which features some great guitar melody from Koichi Fukuda.

'Bring You Down' is another interesting song in that it plays with the dynamics a bit more and when the guitars kick in, they really kick in. 'My Destruction' is built around a heavy keyboard/programming intro that makes you think the song is going in a certain direction before a sampled vocal says, “The road to hell is paved with blood”. It’s pretty appropriate as all hell then breaks loose. The tightness of bassist, Tony Campos and drummer, Ken Jay is phenomenal in this track. 'My Destruction' is one of the few songs that doesn’t have a Wayne Static writing credit and if this is an indication of where Static-X could go in the future (if they decide to) then the future looks pretty damn good.

'Something Of My Own' is a welcome break after the previous onslaught of 'My Destruction', and again it evokes classic Static-X as it grooves along nicely. 'Otsego Placebo' is just mental taking all the best bits of old Static-X, giving them a modern update and then turning everything up to 11. It’s simply brilliant.

Where do you go after that onslaught?... think Static-X are going to ease off after bashing your head in with 'Something Of My Own'? Well for the first 25 seconds of 'Follow' you’d be right, before they carry on beating you with another banging tune driven by a pulsing beat. For the final song on the album the guys ease off with the pounding relentless beats and go evil with 'Dead Souls' (Featuring Al Jourgensen of Ministry on additional vocals). This song evokes memories of Ministry’s 'Scarecrow' to these ears and it’s a very sad but fitting end to the album.

I really didn’t know what to expect when I was given this album to review. I half expected this to be a bit of a misfire as posthumous releases often are, but I have to say I am blown away by how good an album this is. 'Project Regeneration Vol. 1' is 40 minutes of near perfect Industrial based Metal. If I’m honest I drifted away from Static-X after their first two albums, but this is an album that I will definitely go out and buy.

In the conclusion the best thing I can write about this album is Tony, Koichi, Ken & Xer0 have created a beautiful tribute to Wayne Static.