FEAR FACTORY ‘Mechanize’ (Candlelight) Review by Jeff Maki Buy Fear Factory Mechanize here

I still remember my introduction to the industrial extreme metal machine Fear Factory. I saw them open for Sepultura at the old Hammerjacks in Baltimore, Md., in 1994 alongside Fudge Tunnel and Clutch. At the time, they were touring in support of their debut album, Soul of a New Machine. I’ve been a big fan ever since.

After disbanding amidst a long feud between vocalist Burton C. Bell and guitarist Dino Cazares—who even started a new band called Divine Heresy and released two albums—Fear Factory’s Mechanize is being promoted as the band’s “big comeback album.” Filling out the revamped 2010 lineup is legendary drummer Gene Hoglan (Dethklok, Death, Strapping Young Lad, Dark Angel) and bassist Byron Stroud (Strapping Young Lad). Disgruntled former members, drummer Raymond Herrera and bassist Christian Olde Wolbers, have formed a new band named Arkae and a band name dispute over Fear Factory has since unfolded. During the hiatus, Bell also formed Ascension of the Watchers and released an album called Numinosum on Al Jourgensen’s 13th Planet Records. Bell also toured as a live member of Ministry.

I think everyone can agree that Fear Factory’s 2005’s effort, Transgression, was a poor outing, a transition album at best with no real direction that nearly killed the band, as such a bad album can sometimes do to a relatively underground act lacking an overwhelming fan base. It’s taken five years since that album and seven years for Cazares to rejoin, but the backbone of the original Fear Factory is once again in place. Programmer/keyboardist Rhys Fulber—who was a big part of Fear Factory’s early landmark albums, namely Demanufacture—is also back on board . This is Cazares’ first studio album with Fear Factory since 2002’s Digimortal.

So now that all the details are out of the way, the question is whether Mechanize is truly the comeback album fans have been waiting for. At first listen, my impression is that Fear Factory is rapidly trying to make up for lost time with an album so similar in sound to Demanufacture that it sounds like part two of that record. However, when digging deeper, all of the elements that made Fear Factory a name and breakthrough metal band are here—the inhuman mechanical double bass bursts, the razor-sharp guitar riffs from Cazares and the authoritative barking growls of Bell mixed with his clean, melodic singing. This was a style that was the future of metal in the mid ‘90s, and while many bands have copied it today, Fear Factory sounds like the metal machine capable of leading us into the future.

Absent are the nu-metal tendencies and commercial appeal of 1998’s Obsolete (still a good album in its own right) that threatened to compromise the band’s trademark sound toward the end of the first stint. You’re not going to find any collaborations with Cypress Hill (“Back the Fuck Up”) or covers of Gary Numan’s “Cars” or the dismal U2 and Killing Joke covers of Transgression. And forget about any techno beats, too. Mechanize is full-force Fear Factory, their heaviest and most aggressive outing since Demanufacture. “Fear Campaign” and “Powershifter” mean serious business, both showcasing the power and authority of old Fear Factory. “Christplotation” opens with haunting piano notes courtesy of Fulber, before morphing into jackhammer rhythms with a furious speed not unlike black metal bands of today. The industrial, computerized sounds that made the band prominent are here in large magnitude, painting visuals of deadly killer machines and the future termination of mankind. Other standouts are “Industrial Discipline,” led by Bell ’s trademark clean and futuristic singing, “Oxidizer” and the thrashier “Controlled Demolition” that sounds like an industrialized Exodus with Bell ’s vocals. The weakest track here is probably the closer, “Final Exit,” which still crushes about everything on Transgression.

There are many reasons for Fear Factory’s breakup: attempts at mainstream success, nu-metal, the loss of Cazares. But it seems like this was a band that lost its path and never recovered—until now. Never say never because Mechanize is the album fans have been clamoring for. Cazares and Bell are the definitive Fear Factory lineup. For whatever the reasons, the loss of Wolbers and Herrera goes unnoticed here. This is their best release since Digimortal and maybe their second best ever.

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