Shadow Zone (Static-X album)

In 2002, Static would be contacted by Jonathan Davis of the nu metal band Korn. Davis had recently signed on to provide the soundtrack for the Queen of the Damned film soundtrack, but due to contract limitations with Sony, was legally unable to actually perform the music he had written for the soundtrack. As a remedy of this, Davis contacted a number of metal vocalists, Static included, to sing on the songs he had written. Static provided vocals for one track, "Not Meant for Me", with the Queen of the Damned soundtrack releasing in February 2002. With their first album, the band had created it together, led by Static, whereas with the follow-up, the album was completely written by Static alone. ==Writing and recording==

Work on the album started in early 2002, and would span well over a year. Personnel and line-up changes would further alter the band's sound. The label would not allow the band to work again with record producer Ulrich Wild as they had for their prior two albums, instead arranging for them to work with Josh Abraham, a producer known for working with more commercially melodically mainstream bands such as Staind, Filter, and Velvet Revolver. Freese was a last minute addition to recording, after the resignation of drummer Ken Jay, who quit two days before the band was scheduled to enter the studio to start the recording process, due to being unhappy with the direction the album was heading. and Static had performed all guitar parts on Machine. Static enjoyed collaborating with Eisen in the sessions stating that his "punk rock attitude" was refreshing and brought a new approach and sound to the album; while Static typically was more of a "big picture" person, with this album, he let Eisen take control of many of the musical ideas while he focused more so on vocals. The band had amassed over 20 songs by March 2003, with five being revealed by name - "Shadow Zone", "The Only", "New Pain", "Deliver Me", and "Breathe". While the band was unable to retain Wild as a producer, they were able to secure him for the album's final mixing process. ==Sound==

While the album was still described commonly as industrial metal, nu metal, alternative metal, much like the rest of their work, Shadow Zone focused much more on melody than any other album in their catalog. Static's vocal performance on Shadow Zone was commonly compared by journalists as similar to Jonathan Davis of Korn. Allmusic also felt that his vocals on the second single, "So", sounded similar to the vocals of Layne Staley of Alice in Chains. ==Release and promotion==

Recording the album wrapped up in June 2003, A second single, "So", was later released in 2004. ==Reception==

The album debuted at no. 20 on the Billboard 200 charts, selling 48,418 copies in its first week, just over half the number of their prior album, Machine. By January 2004, the album had sold 179,051 copies. ==Track listing==

Personnel per liner notes. Static-X • Wayne Static – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, programming • Tripp Eisen – guitar • Tony Campos – bass, backing vocals • Nick Oshiro – drums (credited but does not perform) Session musicians • Josh Freese – drums • Ken Jay – additional keyboards Production • Josh Abraham – production • Steven Gilmore – artwork • Ulrich Wild – mixing • Ryan Williams – engineer • Tom Whalley – executive producer ==Charts==