Metal Underground.com

Static-X ripped you a new one with their latest album, “Cannibal,” and the return of master axe-man Koichi Fukuda. Now, prepare to be visually obliterated with the release of Static-X’s latest DVD, “Cannibal Killers LIve.”

The DVD’s main feature is a concert that took place on June 2, 2007 at the Big Easy in Spokane, Washington. The concert spans 17 songs, about an hour’s worth of live, in your face, fast paced, aggressive evil disco. Static-X perform songs spanning their entire career and showed that, like a fine wine, with time they have only gotten better. “Cannibal Killers Live” perfectly shows off why Static-X is a band worth seeing live time and time again and that their shows are just as aggressive as and their music is just as tight, if not tighter, than any other band out their today. Static-X performs like a well oiled metal machine and shows that the only place they have left to go is up. Wayne Static shows that he really does sing on the albums and live and that he is also a completely competent musician along with fellow master shredder Koichi Fukuda and can spit his fast paced lyrics just as fast, if not faster than ever on tracks like “The Enemy.” Koichi shows that, despite not being with Static-X since the band’s first album, “Wisconsin Death Trip,” back in 1999, he has not let his musicianship fall to the wayside and showcases the talent that drives guitars in Static-X with breath taking leads on tracks like “No Submission” and “Behemoth.” Furthermore, bassist Tony Campos and drummer Nick Oshiro showcase the low end of Static-X and how it is masterfully held down with perfectly coherent bass lines and tight drum patterns best on tracks such as “Black and White” and “The Enemy.” Static-X obliterates the senses in this show with the masterful technique of their music and will definitely get anyone pumped to see them live and even just to watch the DVD over again.

In addition to an hour’s worth of live concert material on “Cannibal Killers Live,” Static-X has also included their complete music video catalog of 12 music videos and live audio from the same concert. “Cannibal Killers LIve” is packaged as a two disc set, the first disc being the DVD and the second disc is the entire concert on CD. With the 128 minutes worth of content in addition to a 17 track live CD, “Cannibal Killers Live” is a definite buy well worth the money for any fan.

Having seen Static-X numerous times live in the New Jersey/New York City area and had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing a member of the band, I feel that the DVD/CD package of “Cannibal Killers Live” accurately portrays the raw energy that Static-X puts forth in their CD’s and concerts. “Cannibal Killers” only lets up during the band’s slower songs such as “The Trance is the Motion” and “Cold,” but while there are two slow songs that does not mean they are any less intense. Static-X is aware that these songs are slow and not a part of the show everyone cares for, so they throw themselves into the songs, driving up the intensity. They play to the point where there is a pit during “The Trance is the Motion,” which says how intense a Static-X slow song is. The moshing throughout the show is fast, furious, and intense. No kung fu here; just straight up metal moshing, good fist pumping and singing along to the evil disco that is Static-X on “Cannibal Killers Live.”