CD Review: Fear Factory - The Industrialist

Written by Colin McNamara Wednesday, 04 July 2012 12:40

Artist: Fear Factory
Title: The Industrialist
Genre: Industrial Metal
Release Date: 1st June 2012
Label: AFM Records

Album Review

When FEAR FACTORY reformed and unleashed the might of ‘Mechanize,’ it was a happy, but uncertain day for Industrial Metal fans. With the lingering haze of the former feud between guitarist Dino Cazares and vocalist Burton Bell, no one was sure if the band would be solid or just fall apart again. With ‘The Industrialist’, it seems as though those fears will be laid to rest, especially since it was Burton and Dino who wrote the album alone together (Byron Stroud and Gene Holgan departed after ‘Mechanize’). With the original duo together listeners will notice that there is a bit of old and current with ‘The Industrialist’. Again Burton reaches into his wonderful sci-fi storytelling and creates a new concept story that re-spins a haunting remake of the wonderful ‘Obsolete’ back in 1998. The music however is still rooted in ‘Mechanize’ with pounding drums and the guitars that drive with that sharp, mechanical rhythm over and over from Dino with Burton’s trademark bark over his melodic singing, as demonstrated on the single ‘Recharger’. Of course, FEAR FACTORY aim for a more grandiose approach with their music as this is a concept album of dystopia with the spoken word intro and almost percussive thunder on the opening ‘The Industrialist’. Throughout the album though listeners will mostly notice the group sticking the more Modern Metal tradition of harsh vocals/ clean verses, keeping the guitars as driving as possible though when the keyboards flare up they don’t get lost in the mix.

Of course there are experiments here. ‘God Eater’ is one of the best tracks FEAR FACTORY have ever written on an Industrial Metal level with its slow opening and mix of faded out vocals, clear singing, and harsh bellowing of course. Despite the somewhat repetitive verses, overall the entire song is just epic. Of course there are a few flaws, “because man is flawed”. ‘Disassemble’ is the one track to feature almost no clean vocals with Burton just raging over Dino’s guitars, but the chorus just doesn’t stick like one would on ‘New Messiah’. Sure its angry, vengeful FEAR FACTORY smashing walls down, but the driving rhythm is something old school that would have fit more on an album like ‘Concrete’ and just doesn’t quite mesh with the overall flow of the half melodic/ half furious ‘The Industrialist’. Sadly, the closing two tracks are a bit of a letdown. The brief instrumental of ‘Religion Is Flawed…’ is a fantastic sci-fi sounding driven keyboard piece that holds the operatic tones of the opening “The Industrialist,” but then there is nine minutes of just ambient noise from ‘Human Augmentation’ with a few whispers. It’s interesting, but not the best way to close the album when compared to at least some ‘song’ included on the previous release ‘Mechanize’ and its epic, ‘Final Exit’. Fans will probably get bored of this track before it is half over. Still, if one excludes this piece, then they are left with a nearly perfect album. The music is written in a way that will appeal to fans all the way from ‘Demanufacture’ up to ‘Mechanize’ and the story… well… one will have to read the lyrics to really get the taste of this twisted mechanical universe.


Tracklist

01. The Industrialist - 6:07
02. Recharger - 4:09
03. New Messiah - 4:30
04. God Eater - 5:57
05. Depraved Mind Murder - 4:43
06. Virus of Faith - 4:34
07. Difference Engine - 3:37
08. Disassemble - 4:12
09. Religion Is Flawed Because Man Is Flawed - 1:52
10. Human Augmentation - 9:04


Line-up

Dino Cazares- Guitars, Bass
Burton C. Bell- Vocals
Damian "The Frog" Rainaud- Keyboard programming (additional)
Joey Blush- Keyboard programming (additional)
Rhys Fulber- Enhanced soundscape programming
John Sankey- Drum programming


Website

http://www.fearfactorymusic.com/


Cover Picture




Rating

Music: 7
Sound: 7
Total: 7 / 10