Cannibal in Bloomington, MN

Nearly danceable
industrial
thrash
unit
Static X
return to the heavy-hitting attack of their
Wisconsin Death Trip
debut on
Cannibal
, their fifth offering. Like
"Jesus Built My Hotrod"
-era
Ministry
without the snarky humor,
finds the Midwest-bred quartet mining the usual themes of death, drink, sex and hate, but this time around the sparse arrangements, throat-shredding vocals and occasional flourishes of
disco
-jet fuel feel less contrived than on previous outings. Sure, there's nothing here that any fan of
White Zombie
,
Korn
and
Slipknot
hasn't already ingested a hundred times, but tracks like
"Goat,"
"Destroyer,"
the sinewy title cut, and
"No Submission"
-- the latter appeared on the
Saw 3
soundtrack
-- bristle with a refreshing sense of "fuck it" that keeps things from spiraling into the self-absorbed tar pit that makes dinosaur bones out of so many similar acts. [
is also available in a "clean" version that spares the listener the emotional trauma of dealing with words such as "bullshit" and "crap."] ~ James Christopher Monger