{"id":5973,"date":"2012-06-05T00:00:34","date_gmt":"2012-06-05T00:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=5973"},"modified":"2013-06-01T15:59:55","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T15:59:55","slug":"album-review-fear-factory-the-industrialist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-fear-factory-the-industrialist\/","title":{"rendered":"FEAR FACTORY – The Industrialist (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

FEAR FACTORY
The Industrialist<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAFM (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

There was a point in the mid-90s where Pantera, Sepultura and Machine Head were the most important bands in heavy music. Cyber-metallers Fear Factory can be added to that list, partly due the success of their sophomore effort, 1995\u2019s Demanufacture<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Abandoning the death metal roots of debut Soul Of A New Machine<\/em> (1992), Demanufacture<\/em> burst forth from the speakers with vitality, class and a sound that hinted that this was the future of metal and an indication of where heavy music was heading for in the new millennium. Nu-metal put paid to that, and it can be argued that Fear Factory struggled to remain relevant with some mediocre releases and line-up changes.<\/p>\n

But after a hiatus, frontman Burton C. Bell kissed and made up with original guitarist Dino Cazares to unleash Mechanize<\/em> in 2010, and the result was a promising return to form. Unfortunately, The Industrialist<\/em> doesn\u2019t match earlier efforts like Demanufacture<\/em>, but still serves as a decent follow-up to Mechanize<\/em>.<\/p>\n

After an epic intro, the title track explodes with Dino\u2019s trademark staccato riffing and machine-gun drumming. But gone is Gene Hoglan behind the kit, and this time the band have employed the services of a drum machine \u2013 the difference is negligible; the triggering used on previous efforts sounded computer-like anyway and ironically in places sound more human than before with tom rolls and the like.<\/p>\n

So far so good then, and the first half of the album is pure classic Fear Factory with a good mix of clean and harsh vocals and hook-laden choruses. \u2018God Eater\u2019 even has elements of Godflesh within the guitar work, but unfortunately this is the only track to stray from their signature sound, which consists of the aforementioned staccato riffs and triplet drum patterns to the point that the riffs can become predictable. Case in point being \u2018Virus Of Faith\u2019, which apart from the Terminator-influenced intro (yep, Burton and Co are still barking up that tree) sounds like it could have come from any album they\u2019ve recorded since 1995. A bit more imagination with the riffs certainly wouldn\u2019t go amiss, as at times it seems it\u2019s the vocals holding the songs together and the music is just incidental.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say that the songs here are poor though \u2013 far from it, there are some good moments to be enjoyed, such as \u2018Difference Engine\u2019 and lead single \u2018Recharger\u2019, but the overall feel of the album is an underwhelming one, especially when one knows exactly what this band are capable of.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, the album closes with the nine-minute synth-led instrumental \u2018Human Augmentation\u2019, with a mix of Terminator<\/em>-like samples and noises, and is about as much fun as it sounds.<\/p>\n

So Fear Factory\u2019s revival is not quite yet complete, but it would be unfair to say this \u2018new machine\u2019 has lost any of its soul yet.<\/p>\n

Neil Not<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FEAR FACTORYThe Industrialist AFM (2012)Rating: 6.5\/10 There was a point in the mid-90s where Pantera, Sepultura and Machine Head were the most important bands in heavy music. Cyber-metallers Fear Factory can be added to that list, partly due the success of their sophomore effort, 1995\u2019s Demanufacture. Abandoning the death metal roots of debut Soul Of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[292],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fear-factory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5973"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12204,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5973\/revisions\/12204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}