Released By : Candlelight Records
Genre : Industrial Metal
Link : www.fearfactory.com
Lineup:
Burton C. Bell – Vocals
Dino Cazares – Guitars
Matt Devries – Bass
Tracklist:
01. The Industrialist
02. Recharger
03. New Messiah
04. God Eater
05. Depraved mind Murder
06. Virus Of Death
07. Difference Engine
08. Disassemble
09. Religion Is Flawed Because Man Is Flawed
10. Human Augmentation
After spending the best part of a decade or so infighting and threatening to take one another to court for ownership of the name, it seems that Burton C. Bell and Dino Cazares have finally set aside their differences for the sake of the FEAR FACTORY name. Their ‘comeback’ album, 2010’s MECHANIZE was a pretty decent record on all fronts at it seemed as though the band was ready to settle it and get back to business.But, in a pretty common occurrence for the band, there has been yet another two member changes, with drummer Mike Heller (MALIGNANCY, SYSTEM DIVIDE) and bass player Matt DeVries (SIX FEET UNDER, CHIMAIRA) both joining the band recently Heller however isn’t actually on the album, the drums were co-programmed by Dino Cazarez and ex-MACHINE HEAD, come much sought after producer Logan Mader. It may be a little shy of the classic line-up, but so far the train seems to be rolling along just fine.
It’s safe to say that if you are familiar with any of FEAR FACTORY’S previous work (who isn’t hey?) then you pretty much know what to expect here. Industrial chugga-chugga guitar riffs that sync with the bass, near-mechanical & inhuman drumming, Industrial noises, heavy vocal verses, clean vocal choruses and songs about machines one day taking over the world. Sure the band have played with the formula a little along the way, and yes their first album was more related to pure death metal, but since the release of DEMANUFACTURE in 1995 the band have been treading a pretty familiar path. A lot of the material here feels like it’s been done before on earlier releases and at times it does feel a little too safe, but maybe that isn’t such a bad thing… I mean heaps of bands progress and adjust their sound as they go along and most of them get shit-canned for doing so, and more to the point, if you are already fully invested in the dystopian world that FEAR FACTORY have created over the years then THE INDUSTRIALIST just feels like another chapter in the tale, and you’ll instantly feel at home listening to it.
If you are a casual FEAR FACTORY and/or own copies of SOUL OF A NEW MACHINE and DEMANUFACTURE, then you’re probably better off sticking to those two classic records. If however you have followed the band in a bit deeper and enjoyed releases like DIGIMORTAL and ARCHETYPE then you will find enough value in THE INDUSTRIALIST for it to be worthy of your time. I personally won’t revisit this one much in the future and there’s just something about knowing that the drums were programmed rather than actually played that eats at me enough to drop the rating slightly… A standard release that is best kept for the die-hard fans and NOT the casual FF listeners.
Written By ZeeZee