by John D. Luerssen

Best known for its hardened take on New Order's "Blue Monday," L.A.-based industrial rock act Orgy has been trying to trump Candyass since 1998. And although the band has had little success with subsequent efforts like 2000's inferior Vapor Transmission, the downward spiral continues on Punk Statik Paranoia. Tunes like "The Obvious" and "Vague" are as close as the Jay Gordon-fronted outfit comes to appealing, with a few hooks buried beneath all of the electronic metal posturing and inane lyrics. But by downplaying the synths that first made the group stand out from the original wave of nu-metal stylists, hard and brooding contributions like "Inside My Head" and "Leave Me Out" overrun the disc, making it largely redundant and regularly boring.