Vapor Transmissions

Marilyn Manson-isms still haunt singer Jay Gordon, but this time he binds his secondhand poetics to a forward-looking glam too catchy to be denied.

In spite of cosmetic differences, though, much of Vapor Transmission hints at a gaudy, synth-driven interpretation of Korn.

Vapor Transmission, the follow-up to Orgy's 1998 debut, Candyass, is as sci-fi, inorganic and over-produced as the title implies. Sometimes the stainless steel robotics work, and sometimes they don't.

But just as a couple of cool originals on its debut distinguished Orgy from the Antichrist Superstar cover bands current working the bar circuit, if only slightly, so too do a clutch of strong tunes on this, its second album.

An album awash in old new wave sonics, borrowed Ziggy-isms, and facile science fiction claptrap. As you'd expect with an album called Vapor Transmission, it suffers from quite a bit of gas.

Aiming to fill the Queenhole by injecting video-game sci-fi and radio-head sonics into a pop-metal base, the Korn protégés forge a "startling vision of a future world in which communications technology has been turned against us, becoming a tool for government surveillance rather than personal convenience." Gosh, how'd they think of that?

Amusingly, Los Angeles nu-metal types Orgy look like Duran Duran after being chewed on by giant robots. The problem is, as this hugely stupid sci-fi concept album grinds on towards the 30th century, they sound that way, too.