Static-X at Sony Hall

Xer0

At a time when every band that ever existed seems to be reuniting, Static-X has taken this concept to a most unusual level. Vocalist/guitarist Wayne Static (born Wayne Wells) founded the industrial metal band in 1994 in Los Angeles, California, and was the band's only consistent member until the band split in 2013. He died in 2014. Three-fourths of the original Static-X lineup (guitarist Koichi Fukuda, bassist Tony Campos, and drummer Ken Jay, none of whom were in Static's later lineups) reunited in 2018 to record the forthcoming album Project Regeneration, creating new backing tracks to previously unreleased vocal recordings left unfinished by Static. The album would be filled out with new songs featuring vocals by contemporary hard rock singers. The project then grew even weirder. Fukuda, Campos and Jay booked a concert tour using the brand Static-X to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band's debut album, the platinum-selling Wisconsin Death Trip. This lineup features the same three original members plus a mysterious singer who wears a necrotic mask resembling the late Wayne Static. Photographs of a matching neck tattoo tentatively identified the new singer, known as Xer0, as Edsel Dope, the lead vocalist of the band Dope, which is a support act on the tour; Edsel Dope denied this rumor.

The tour, which stopped tonight at Sony Hall, demonstrated that the original Static-X was larger than simply Wayne Static. Performing nine of the 12 songs from the debut album plus an assortment from later albums, Xer0, Fukuda, Campos, and Jay nailed all the essential ingredients of harsh, head-banging industrial metal. Xer0 achieved an especially strong performance with coarse, penetrating vocals, and the other members similarly proved their metal-hammering abilities, keeping the aggressive music raw and cutting. What might have appeared on paper to be exploitation turned into a fitting tribute to the late singer, with Xer0 rightly respectful in his substitute role. The concert was not intended to progress beyond the legacy of Wayne Static, so the musicians invested well in allowing the audience to experience the music of classic Static-X live one more time.

Setlist:

1. Bled for Days
2. Wisconsin Death Trip
3. Sweat of the Bud
4. Love Dump
5. I Am
6. Otsegolation
7. The Trance Is the Motion
8. Get to the Gone
9. Black & White
10. This Is Not
11. Destroy All
12. Start a War
13. Behemoth
14. Cold
15. I'm with Stupid
16. Push It