There comes a time in every band's career when they decide to call it a day. Well,its been tweleve eventful years, and the almighty Fear Factory have done just that. The band that started off as death metal-flavoured with an industrial topping,soon morphed into a powerful genre of their own,with precision riffing and pounding double bass drums,and roars turning into melodic singing courtesy of vocalist Burton C. Bell. Hell,this band didn't so much break ground as destroy it. Their first album,'Soul of a New Machine' featured Andrew Chives on bass,but he was soon offed and replaced by Christian Olde Wolbers just in time for Demanufacture, by far the bands best album. The follow up,'Obsolete' was a disappointing sequel,but still had its good points,and with its more mainstream approach,saw it reaching gold status in the sales. With songs such as the highly commercialised 'cars'(one of the first 80's songs revived by a metal band)the amazing 'edgecrusher',and the highly melodic 'securitron', the band should have sold many more copies. But alas,there was one small hitch that would forever hinder their success,that would stop them breaking into the charts. Roadrunner. Their record label threw them in the deep end,let them swim themselves, and then rewarded them by stealing all the profits. Bastards. But the worse was yet to come,hoping that an even MORE mainstream approach would secure success,they released 'Digimortal'. Burtons vocals hoarsened,dinos riffs simplified,and the pretentious futuristic image heightened,with more samples and electronics being used than ever,resulting in overkill. Raymond "the Machine" Herrera's drumming improved however,with triplets and bass drum fills abound. In their career,the band made videos for 'replica','cars','resurrection' and 'linchpin'. All of which were released as singles,as were 'burn'(a remix),'Dog Day Sunrise' and 'Invisible Wounds'. Despite the cyber-metal image,Fear Factory were still one of the greatest metal bands of them all. Where would we be without Dino's riffs and beauty? As a mark of resect,buy all their albums and revel in the metallic glory.
A review of said bands album by a relative:
It is necessary to state that Fear Factory have a drummer nicknamed 'The Machine', so known because of his machine-like precision and speed. But the burning question that arises is this: do you need a drummer nicknamed 'The Machine', so known because of his machine-like precision and speed, to make a great album?
Of course you do.
But being a mere automaton on the kit is not enough for Herr Herrera. No, he finds it necessary to, along with his obese guitar counterpart Dino Cazares, compose modern metal songs in the most classic sense. Bass-intense riffs rage in an ocean of speed to form the driving currents on which Captain Burton 'C.' Bell steers the good ship Fear Factory to the fabled land of Incredible Album. Bell accomplishes this hardy feat of seamanship with the newly-recruited navigational talents of bass-master Christian Olde Wolbers, whose distorted bass creates a strong keel on which mighty tunes are wrought. The vocals of Bell, ranging from the Krakenous screams and roars of Demanufacture, to the Psiren-like melodies present in Pisschrist, are a masterful treat.
The influence of Godflesh runs through the hardy timbers, and almost certainly the sea-shanty that is Dog Day Sunrise is a tribute to the seamanship of Admiral Justin Broadrick.
Landlubbers may scoff at Fear Factory, saying that she only puts to sea once every three years, and returns the same cargo each time, with occasional spoiled goods, where the tea remixes with the rum.
A hardy seadog's cuss on them all!
