Well...I wasn’t quite expecting this. Maybe it was just cynicism, but whatever it was, I really didn’t expect Fear Factory to return with such an astoundingly good album! After reviewing Dino’s second Divine Heresy album last year with lukewarm enthusiasm, I must admit I didn’t think he could any longer write music of the calibre of the Fear Factory of old.
I think the only thing I would have liked to hear more of – and this isn’t much of a qualm – are the industrial samples which were rife on ‘Demanufacture’ especially. That aside, this is possibly Fear Factory’s crowning glory, and how often does one say that 20 years into a band’s career?
The main factors for this are the new surges in power, intensity, heaviness and glorious melody. It seems the combination of Cazares (guitar) and Hoglan (drums) has doubled the speed this band once fired at, as there have certainly never been as many blast-beats or instances where the riffs are locked water-tight with the bass drums.
Burton’s melodies haven’t soared so much since the days of ‘Obsolete’, giving this band a new lease of old life...and in contrast, his barking hasn’t been spewed forth with so much venom in a long time either.
The title track exhibits all of this save the celestial singing and blast-beats. Particularly noticeable are Bell’s furious vocals, as he bellows ‘MECHANIZE’ with full-force over Hoglan’s rapid-fire feet.
‘Industrial Discipline’ is one of the many highlights, showing the band in tip top form, cruising through Cazares’s walls of solid riffing upon thrash beats and Burton’s rhythmic barks. The melodies come and are oh so bloody good, it makes you realise what the band have been missing for years. Enforcing this at the end of the song, Hoglan adds a blast-part to really hone the intensity of Burton’s song.
‘Mechanize’ does have some newer sounds, involving different riff textures and keyboard experiments which you wouldn’t necessarily associate with this band, but which they benefit from, especially in ‘Christploitation’. A delicate piano introduction, reminding me more of ‘Midian’ era Cradle of Filth than anything else, sets the tone for Dino and Gene to stamp a catchy thrash-fuelled-riff and beat deep into the structure of the song. Those wall-like combinations of riff and bass drums locked tight in unison return with Burton providing the feral point of attention. The pace fluctuates with the instruments, being punchy and fast whenever the Cazares/Hoglan partnership has any say in the matter and at other times letting the piano wash its light atmosphere over the chaos.
The drama of ‘Oxidizer’ unfolds pretty quickly, with its grandiose keyboards and especially catchy chorus; the guitars add the melody and Burton does his half singing, half screaming thing and it really makes the song stand out.
‘Controlled Demolition’ harks right back to the rather old ‘Body Hammer’ with its opening riffs and an obvious overdose of pace, bringing a very large smile to my face every time. The singing sections here are surely amongst Burton’s most powerful performances, and like the other tracks blessed with this variation in vocal chords, gleam from this injection of diversity and immense melody.
Impressive is the word.
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