A green Shiva goddess holds up a futuristic metallic orb, while an androgynous vampire-like creature gazes lovingly/hungrily at a horizontal body. A mushroom cloud and a praying alien are in the background.

This is the bewildering cover art for Apraxia's umpteenth release, "Weapons of Mass Deception."

Apraxia front man Siren313 is less than subtle. On "Totenplatz" (German for "dead place") he sings entirely in the Hunnish language. Side two opens with "Amplified," a song trancy enough to be heard at Level nightclub, but from there, side two is dedicated to Apraxia's political passions. "Opium & Oil" is a half minute of John Kerry and George W. Bush sound bites. "Glass" is unremarkable except for a little lyrical nugget that sums up Siren313's outlook on life: "Destruction eminent but we survive." "Sociovirus" has Apraxia teaming up with rapper Ill Wizzard, whose lyrics read like "The People's History of the United States." One of his strangest lines comes near the end: "It's a new day/I'm cleaning up the Web pages/Rewriting history for all human races."

Siren313 isn't entirely one-sided in his political leanings, though. "We make wars out of different gods," he notes on the more synth-poppy opener, "The Future." There is nothing wrong with musicians having a political stance as long as they have something new or interesting to say. Apraxia doesn't, which is why his more lighthearted Kraftwerk-inspired tunes are more interesting. "Blue & Grey" is a billowing 8-bit indebted instrumental. "Metrosexual Stranger" is a beat-heavy, self-conscious ode to commercial beauty marred by the chorus: "And it feels so stinging – yeah/Oh it feels so stinging down there."

This is some cold, cynical stuff. Check your joy at the door and pick up your glow stick. GB

www.apraxia.net