STATIC-X got its start over ten years ago, led by the spiky-haired Wayne Static. Their brand of industrial nu-Metal was perfect for the time period that it was released in, and they took off. They 've been in three Ozzfests, the Family Values Tour and a tour opening for SLAYER (in which they were frequently booed). The thing is, when a band is hated, it's usually because they're pretty popular. While they were never hated as much as, say, LIMP BIZKIT, there are quite a number of people that claim to be in the love to hate category for this band.

I, myself, have been rather indifferent to their existence. I had a friend that has put in STATIC-X CDs a couple of times, but after a few songs I made him put in some NEVERMORE instead. So even though I came into reviewing this CD not expecting much, I was nowhere near biased.

The first song, Lunatic, came on, and it was pretty much what I expected, at least until that furious solo halfway through. It knocked me on my ass because I was not expecting it. Whichever guitarist that was shredding, I thought, sounded like Dave Mustaine; later I found out that it was Dave Mustaine, but there are other solos sprinkled in the other songs that are pretty good as well. Apparently the inclusion of solos is relatively new for STATIC-X, and I respect the fact that when they solo, they are well-written.

The thing is, despite the tasty soloing, there is not much else worthwhile to be found. Most of the tempos are exactly the same, the drummer plays fast a couple of times, but his drum work is buried under layers of electronics. If you like Wayne Static's vocals, then you'll enjoy him here, but he really does nothing out of the ordinary except yell. The riffs are simple and not worth going into more detail about. The real thing that gets me is the so-called electronics that are sprinkled throughout. They really add nothing to the songs, so really their only function is to change this band's classification from nu-Metal to industrial Metal, although I think industrial Metal fans will be angry to have STATIC-X associated with their genre. If you want good industrial Metal, listen to some MINISTRY instead.

The guitar solos on this album are really good, but they certainly do not make up for the rest of the songs' shortcomings. If you're a STATIC-X fan, you may or may not like this, but despite the addition of guitar solos, the rest of the songs sound exactly the same, so I doubt they'll win over any haters.