Project Regeneration Vol. 2 by Static-X | Album Review
With their second installment, Static-X complete a tribute four years in the making, and honor one of metal’s unsung greats
- Genre: Industrial Metal / Nu-metal
- Members: Wayne Static (posthumous), Tony Campos, Koichi Fukuda, Ken Jay, Xer0
- Length: 48 Minutes
- Label: Otsego Entertainment Group, LLC
- Released: 2024
Celebrity deaths never really fazed me. It always felt akin to learning a distant relative passed away; it’s sad, but in that detached way, often borne from an absence of meaningful connection.
Most of us see death as inherently sad, I’d wager, but there’s a difference between acknowledging it and feeling it. When someone we well and truly love, whose existence persists directly with our own, passes, we feel it by its proximity and the absence left in the wake, less so for those who already stand at a distance to us whom our memories may be fleeting.
As such, I often struggled to truly understand the outpouring of grief I would see from people on social media whenever a musician passed away — again, I could acknowledge being bummed, but it’s not like you knew them, right?
Well, consider me enlightened when, in November 2014, a friend messaged me to say that Wayne Static, frontman for industrial nu-metal band Static-X, had passed away at 48 years old. I thought it was a joke, a trick, or a misunderstanding, but a quick investigation invalidated all those potentialities. He was well and truly gone, and it felt like a part of me had gone, too… a yawning absence that sat with me for months afterward. And suddenly, terribly, I could stand in solidarity with all those strangers on the internet celebrating figures who once seemed too distant ever to mourn.
Because the universe is listening, I came across a most poignant Louder article just yesterday: An interview with Escuela Grind vocalist Katerina Economu discussing 10 albums that shaped their life and in it, they said the following regarding the death of Aaliyah:
“When she passed away, I was devastated. That’s the first time I realised musicians aren’t here forever — I saw music in a new light, in terms of impact and legacy.”
It’s an apt summation of how I felt — and still feel — about Wayne Static. Even the article’s headline nails it; just swap the names. Since hearing their 2003 album Shadow Zone, I fell in love with their industrial-steeped, electro-washed groove metal, and Wayne Static became my idol. I wanted to look like him, sing like him, play music like him…
Hell, my high school journey was practically bookended by Static-X releases. They were the first concert I went to without my parents (funny enough, my mom joined us for the next one). The excitement at hearing every new album, the fervent build-up waiting for release dates, poring over the lyrics, drinking in the imagery — visual and sonic — it was palpable. Intoxicating. Even the band’s uncertain future following Cult of Static (2009) couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm when only two years later, Wayne Static released his solo album, Pighammer, with talks of more music on the way.
Sadly, that was never to be, as the man whose music, lyrics, and personality had guided me from gothy high schooler to gothy college art kid and beyond, would never be again.
Or so I thought.
Enter 2019, when the original members of Static-X announced they would be completing unreleased material Wayne had written and recorded while simultaneously embarking on a tour in celebration of his life to coincide with the 20th anniversary of their 1999 debut, Wisconsin Death Trip.
Needless to say, I was ecstatic. And, let me tell you if ever there was a concert to personify Economu’s aforementioned reflections on musicians, their legacy, and impact, it was that night: July 7th, 2019, in Reading, PA, stuffed into an over-crowded Reverb with my mom, some of my best friends, and an incalculable number of strangers in an experience I can only describe as cathartic, coalescent, ascendent.
Then, in 2020, Static-X dropped Project Regeneration Vol. 1–11 years since their “final” album” — and hearing Wayne’s voice, his compositions, and the music that informed my teenaged years… was like reconnecting with a treasured friend all over again. Furthermore, the band sounded infused with new energy, culminating in one of the strongest releases of their discography.
Now, it’s 2024, and Static-X has (as of January) unleashed the final chapter in this labor of love and memory. Project Regeneration Vol. 2, as its name implies, picks up where the first installment left off, delivering a similarly hefty, electronica-infused platter of industrial metal — perhaps some of the purest distillations of the band’s self-monikered “Evil Disco” they’ve ever crafted.
Again comprised of original members Tony Campos (bass), Ken Jay (drums), Koichi Fukuda (guitars); and rounded out by masked helmsman Xer0 (additonal vocals/guitars), the band bursts with an energy, verve, and freshness one might not expect from individuals cresting into their fifties. Tracks like “Take Control”, “Z0mbie”, “Run For Your Life”, and “Disco Otsego” explode with a pounding dance-floor ferocity reminiscent of WDT or Machine (2001).
Elsewhere, the band dips into their Shadow Zone/Start A War palette with “Dark Place” and “Jic Boi”— the latter even boasting a lyrical callback to “Just in Case” — while bonus tracks “Terrible Lie” and “Grover Yoda Data 14” call back to the rarities-focused Beneath… Between… Beyond (2004). Even Pighammer feels represented through the heavy synth-soaked atmosphere dominating the album. And everywhere, Wayne’s trademark gravelly barks, shrieks, and fried harmonies fill the ears, with Xer0 once more proving admirable and appreciated as an avatar in completing what tragedy and time stole away.
No matter where one looks, the sonic history of Static-X and the spirit of Wayne is alive and represented on Project Regeneration Vol. 2, bolstered by solid production (Xer0) and mixing/mastering (longtime collaborator Ulrich Wild) that lets every element shine — resulting in the raw, thundering, trance-infused platters that informed their collective output.
Anyone who was a fan before will find absolutely plenty to love here; anyone who isn’t, or was maybe expecting something more “modern” (whatever that may mean) from the band, will probably walk away disappointed — but I would argue talks of modernization have no place here.
With the band continuing to embark on anniversary tours, there is the possibility that they may decide to write something new in the future, something separated from Wayne entirely. If so, maybe we can talk about “modernization”, among other things. To do it now, however, represents a failure to read the room: Project Regeneration is a eulogy in two parts, and it would have been disingenuous for the band to have delivered it in any other way.
Vol. 2 could easily fit in anywhere along their timeline, the same as its predecessor, and showcases a deft level of consistency from a band that has never really failed. Most importantly, in the surviving members’ mission to celebrate Wayne Static and the music he helped create by giving life to the material he left behind, they have succeeded beautifully.
I can’t thank them enough.
