Review Summary: A completely terrible change of pace and sound for Orgy that resulted in one of the worst albums of the millenium.
You either liked Orgy's third release,
Punk Statik Paranoia or you absolutely hated it. The electronica/industrial sound of
Candyass and
Vapor Transmission was gone; in favor for a more radio-friendly nu-metal sound. They even manage to add the 'rap' twinge to this album. I don't know what Orgy was trying to accomplish with
Punk Statik Paranoia; I think it was a last ditch effort to hit it big...but they didn't accomplish it because plain and simple, Orgy is only a good band when they do the electronica/industrial sound.
Punk Statik Paranoia is not only guitars though, there is a few scattered keyboards and synthesizers found about in certain parts of
Punk Statik Paranoia.
But even with all these problems, a few good things came out of
Punk Statik Paranoia. Jay Gordon, the lead singer finely tuned his screaming voice, and the guitar work truly was fantastic in this album. The problem with this album is that Jay Gordon attempts to rap in certain parts of the album, like the beginning to
Vague. He's not a rapper. He's only good as a regular singer; not much more than that. But
Punk Statik Paranoia is so unoriginal, far from Orgy's roots, and so
BAD lyrically that this album just becomes Orgy's worst release and the worst thing that has had Jay Gordon's name attached to it. It's too short! It only features nine songs and Orgy billed it as a full-length album, not an EP. That's just wrong when its $12.99 at stores.
There's a few songs on
Punk Statik Paranoia that aren't that bad though;
Beautiful Disgrace isn't bad, although it sounds like a KoRn ripoff. There's plenty of KoRn vocal loops found about in this song, and there is plenty of KoRn-ish screaming. But wait, there's more parts that sound exactly like KoRn; the bass is turned all the way up in this song. The only thing I can say about this song is that the chorus is actually not that bad.
Punk Statik Paranoia features plenty more nu-metal ripoffs like
Vague,
The Obvious, and plenty others; but there's a few songs that actually sound about as close to
Candyass or
Vapor Transmission as this album gets.
Leave Me Out features plenty of the keyboards and sythesizers, but they added some kind of dancefloor-type beat to the song, and there's not enough guitars in the verses to this song. Jay Gordon attempts to rap in this song which just makes it automatically terrible.
So, its pretty apparent Orgy lost any bit of their unique feel with this album, which is a shame because their first two albums were pretty cool and unique. There's so much not to like about
Punk Statik Paranoia from the KoRn-ripoffs, to the Jay Gordon 'raps', or the complete lack of keyboards. Who knew Orgy had it in them to drop what made them special?
