Pighammer - Assassins Of Youth

[pen]

This is the first single from Pighammer, which is the solo project of Wayne Static from Static-X. Expect it to sound similar. The album drops on October 4th.

01 – “Pighammer”
02 – “Around The Turn”
03 – “Assassins Of Youth”
04 – “Thunder Invader”
05 – “Static Killer”
06 – “She”
07 – “Get It Together”
08 – “Chrome Nation”
09 – “Shifter”
10 – “Slave”
11 – “The Creatures Are Everywhere”
12 – “Behind The Sky”

On the single, Wayne had this to say:

“I wrote this song while living in a hotel room, listening to Pink Floyd, drinking Crown and doing whippits. I started the song in that condition but never finished it until years later after dumping off the drugs. Now the song has a whole new meaning from when I started it”

On the album, he said this:

“The Pighammer concept conjures up bizarre images. It’s about a mad plastic surgeon, with a pig fetish, that likes to convert hot chicks into pigs. It is the total opposite if what a plastic surgeon would do. He has this crazy hammer device made from a pig foot. The images of the surgery in the CD package are only a dark comedic visualization of the real theme of the album, which is my transformation…”

I hope this is better than the last Static-X album.

[lockebox]

Their last album wasn't that bad. It was typical Static-X. Sure, there was a lack of memorable hooks, but they never really had too many catchy choruses in the first place. Expect to hear more mile-a-minute guitar chugging and yelling with this one.

[pen]

Aug 4, 2011 18:37:16 GMT -5 lockebox said:

Their last album wasn't that bad. It was typical Static-X. Sure, there was a lack of memorable hooks, but they never really had too many catchy choruses in the first place. Expect to hear more mile-a-minute guitar chugging and yelling with this one.

I was trying to Vocaroo something but my mike cut out midway through for some reason so I'll just re-summarize my thoughts in writing, old school style.

Cult Of Static was weak. If you're a fan of the band and listen to their whole discography, you can tell there are major differences between each Static album. Machine and Cannibal for example are both easily their heaviest, while Start A War and Shadow Zone their most mainstream. They all have their own feel and they're all pretty good at what they do, except for Cult Of Static, which is awful.

It's bare bones. It's repetitive. It's like they took remains from previous albums and looped them to song length and then did a stereotypical Static-X vocal take on all of them, with lyrics that are just random things shouted. And if you think that's what they always sound like then I advise you to re-listen to their discography. There are nuances to all of their albums that are distinctly missing from Cult Of Static.

Maybe it's because of all the bad blood they were going through at that time. Maybe that's why they couldn't get it together on that album. It just sounds so half-assed and thrown together, without any regard for making the songs listenable or memorable. And it's an insult that they chose that album to name after their fanbase, rather than an album that actually lives up to their career.

[lockebox]

Funny thing is that the reviews for "Cult of Static" were all pretty steady. I'm agreeing that the album was poor, but I don't think there was that much of a dip in quality compared to their previous efforts. They're fine in small doses, but listening to a full album of theirs can get tiresome, to me. It's all too one-paced, and most of their songs are indistinguishable from one another. "Wisconsin Death Trip" was a cool album for its time, but that whole sound got boring after awhile. They've had some neat tracks in between, but nothing that has really bowled me over. I think they've done very well to stick it out when most of their contemporaries have fallen by the wayside.

[pen]

I want to vehemently defend them but apparently I must learn to control my righteous anger because I use it way too much and I must learn to respect the opinions of others even when they're wrong and I didn't say that because I am learning that we are all different and it would be a funny place if we were all alike, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? WOULDN'T IT????????

[lockebox]

They can be OK... but in small doses, as I said. I could easily listen to "Cold," "Push It" & "The Only" back to back, and there's a chance that I could like the Pighammer debut single, but listening to a whole record of grinding, devoid, dated nu-metal is too much. "Cult of Static" just cemented my views.

[pen]

Start A War is an amazing album from front to back and Shadow Zone, while not my favorite, displays a wide amount of variety on their part.

[lockebox]

I find it interesting that they've had a consistent run of singles that have done respectively well, without really having a breakout hit. Didn't they have three charting singles from the last era?

[pen]

Aug 4, 2011 20:05:46 GMT -5 lockebox said:

I find it interesting that they've had a consistent run of singles that have done respectively well, without really having a breakout hit. Didn't they have three charting singles from the last era?

I don't think any of their singles last era charted. I know they released Stingwray and Z28, but Wiki doesn't mention any placements for them. Lunatic may have also been a single, but I dunno. The last charting single Wiki mentions is Destroyer from Cannibal, at 23.

They have been pretty consistent as a band though. Their highest charting single was their first one, Push It, at 20. Since then all their other singles are in the 20s and 30s range.

[lockebox]

I wasn't going by Billboard on this occasion. I think "Stingwray" was planted in the top 40 for a couple of weeks. I remember "Z28" hitting the top 50, too. The third was the one I was unsure of.


*Edit*... thought I'd research.

Jun 1, 2009 11:58:18 GMT -5 @metalfan87 said:

It reached the Top 50 in Mediabase Active

54 50 STATIC-X Z28 148 124 24 0.46

Looks like "Terminal" may have came close to charting, as well.

[Nicholas2.0]

Aug 4, 2011 20:15:49 GMT -5 pen said:

Their highest charting single was their first one, Push It, at 20.

Not to split hairs here, but I distinctly remember "Bled for Days" being on the radio first, then being re-released after "I'm with Stupid."

[pen]

Aug 5, 2011 2:07:40 GMT -5 Nicholas2.0 said:

Aug 4, 2011 20:15:49 GMT -5 pen said:

Their highest charting single was their first one, Push It, at 20.

Not to split hairs here, but I distinctly remember "Bled for Days" being on the radio first, then being re-released after "I'm with Stupid."

Information is unclear.

[lockebox]

Goes for adds August 30th.

[lockebox]

This project isn't actually called Pighammer, by the way.

Top 50 - Active

51 47 WAYNE STATIC - Assassins of Youth 88 79 9 0.105

[Shadows in the Dark]

Wonder if this can do better than the last Static X lead single.

[pen]

Oct 9, 2011 19:30:08 GMT -5 lockebox said:

This project isn't actually called Pighammer, by the way.

No offense, but if you had followed the development of this album, you'd know that Wayne had always called the project Pighammer, and I can only imagine he changed his plans to get better promotion.