Static-X was industrial metal’s next big hit in 1998 when their debut album Wisconsin Death Trip went platinum in the United States and wowed Ozzfest audiences on two different occasions. They also had hits borrowed to video games Omega Boost, Street Skater 2, Duke Nukem: Land of the Babes, and Rockband.

Unfortunately for the band, it’s been downhill ever since and this, their sixth studio album, continues the trend. They have not generated another platinum selling album and did not return to the Ozzfest stage until nine years later in 2007.

Fans of Static-X got a preview of the new sound as the lead single “Lunatic” was featured on the Punisher: War Zone soundtrack. That’s all you really need to hear as the album sounds nearly identical. Wayne Static’s vocals and tone do not change through the entire album. The only reason I knew the song had changed from one to the next is the split second silence between each track. With the exception of Tera-Fied, where the song opens with a quiet riff and woman’s vocals, once you’ve heard one track, you’ve heard them all.

One area that does not disappoint are the guitar solos by Koichi Fukuda and Tony Campos. The solos take a page out of classic rock’s playbook making the sounds a little slower and longer as opposed to the fast and heavy we hear a lot of in modern rock. 

The album is meant to give back to the fans. The word “cult” in the title of the album is symbolic to the support they have received. Despite the claims from the band,` the sound does not reflect what brought them to fame. Their usual heavy sound is drowned by the slower paced, though effective solos, and the once aggressive sound of Wayne Static’s lyrics, while remaining hoarse and heavy, is monotone at best.

In a word, the album is boring. For a CD that is supposed to be the band giving back to the fans, it instead serves as a disappointment.